Not returning home for Tet, Vo Thi Cam Tu (33 years old, living in Nha Be district, Ho Chi Minh City) spent all her Tet bonus on traveling abroad, after a year of not leaving the city.
On January 21, about 8 days before Tet, she went to a group specializing in "hunting" for last-minute tours. Accordingly, the tour to Thailand was quoted at 11 million VND, an increase of about 3 million VND compared to the beginning of January.
"The travel agency informed us close to the date that this was an extended tour so the price had increased. I also wanted to try the feeling of celebrating the New Year abroad so I accepted," Cam Tu said .
Spend moreIn fact, choosing to travel during Tet is a rather "risky" decision because tourists have to compete with the flow of people buying tickets to go home for Tet, not to mention the high price of services. The case of Van Lam My Phung (26 years old, living in Binh Tan district, Ho Chi Minh City) is an example.
Phung chose to travel to Da Nang near Tet. According to the original plan, she and her husband would depart on January 25 (December 26), but had to postpone it to January 27 (December 28) because there were no more plane tickets.
"The plane tickets sold out so quickly, I booked early but on January 27th there was only a midnight flight left. The round-trip ticket price was 2.9 million VND per person. On the third day of Tet, my husband and I had to go home to celebrate Tet, so we had little time so we couldn't use another means of transportation," she shared.
Not to mention, My Phung also had difficulty booking a place to stay when all the mid-range hotels were fully booked. She struggled and then reluctantly chose a high-end hotel with vacancies at a price of 1.8 million VND/night.
"The cost of accommodation has doubled, we have to cut down on some activities in the schedule. But having a place to stay during this peak season is a blessing," she confided.
Meanwhile, with the idea of having fun but still having it within his budget, Ngoc Hau (21 years old, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) "hunted" for plane tickets for a trip to Da Lat before Tet (January 20-23) early, but still could not find cheap prices. The male media employee hurriedly booked a sleeper bus ticket for 450,000 VND, enduring chronic motion sickness to save on travel expenses.
"I'm not the type of person who uses the phrase 'It's Tet' to waste money. The high cost of airfare during peak season is quite unreasonable," Hau said.
According to the survey, "hot" flights have sold out despite airlines continuously increasing flights on days close to Tet. The main routes such as Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang/Hanoi and vice versa have an occupancy rate of over 90%. In addition, the route from Ho Chi Minh City to Chu Lai (Quang Nam)/Hue/Vinh/Pleiku/Nha Trang... is all fully booked.
Tour prices increase, domestic tourism is still "hot"
Airfares once again reflect the market's supply and demand this year, directly affecting tour prices at some travel agencies.
Mr. Pham Anh Vu, Deputy General Director of Viet Travel, was surprised when the number of customers booking tours during Tet increased despite the company making some adjustments to tour prices due to the rapid depletion of airfares near Tet.
As of January 23, the company has achieved over 90% of its Tet tour plan with nearly 200 tour routes, serving more than 10,000 registered customers. Domestic bus tours are expected to close on January 27. Business figures also recorded a 25% increase in the number of customers compared to the same period in 2024, of which more than 70% are family groups participating in tours of 4 days or more.
Besides, foreign tours account for 65% of total visitors, in which China, Northeast Asia (Japan, Korea), Thailand and Europe are the most popular destinations.
Domestic tours focus on destinations in Nha Trang, the Central Highlands, Da Nang and the Northwest region of Vietnam.
The trend of traveling by car this year also recorded a 20% increase in the number of groups compared to the same period last year, as well as witnessing a growth in demand for travel during Tet among young customers.
Sharing the same view, Ms. Trang Nguyen, Head of Sales at BestPrice Travel Company, also noticed that airfares are currently 20-40% higher than normal days. This causes the prices of tour packages, especially package tours with fixed itineraries, to have to be adjusted accordingly.
Statistics from the above unit's sales department show that the number of customers registering for tours has increased by 20-30%, mainly concentrated in popular destinations such as Da Lat, Nha Trang, Ha Long, Northwest and Sa Pa.
Notably, many destinations have achieved occupancy rates of over 90%, reflecting high tourism demand and the strong recovery of the domestic tourism industry during this Tet season.
Tourists often prioritize destinations close to their place of residence, creating an even distribution across the three regions of North, Central and South.
In particular, in the first period of the year, pilgrimage tourism clearly dominated, with famous spiritual destinations such as Bai Dinh Pagoda (Trang An, Ninh Binh), Yen Tu (Quang Ninh) and Hue recording a significant increase in the number of visitors.
This trend reflects the need to combine spring travel with traditional cultural beliefs, giving visitors meaningful experiences both spiritually and culturally.
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