Proposal for 5-day holiday on April 30: Will tourism businesses be able to respond?

Tourists choose to buy tours at the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival taking place at 23-9 Park, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City from April 4 to 7 - Photo: QUANG DINH

Most of the tourism and travel businesses surveyed agreed with the proposal to swap the April 30 and May 1 holidays to create a longer holiday for people.

Customers should still book services early for the holidays of April 30 and May 1.

Ms. Tran Thi Bao Thu - Director of Communications and Marketing of Vietluxtour - said that swapping normal working days and making up for them with other days to have a longer break could create more favorable conditions for service businesses, including the tourism industry. Families can also take advantage of this opportunity to let their children relax before entering the final exam period.

Businesses planning to organize internal events can also choose this time to organize teambuilding activities, because service prices are still better than the summer peak season.

"However, to have a quality and affordable tour, tourists should still plan to book services early, and can choose departure and end times that are different from the good times to get a better price. At the same time, they should book through reputable travel companies to ensure quality. Be sure to check carefully when buying travel vouchers online to avoid the situation where there is no service when arriving at the destination," Ms. Thu added.

So is it overloaded so the proposal to swap holidays is accepted right in this year's holiday? According to Ms. Thu, there is no need to worry too much about overloading, because if the holiday is 4-5 days, the demand for customers will be divided into both domestic and international tours.

April 30th is always the peak season for both individual and group tours, so major travel companies have prepared their services. Vietluxtour has prepared a plan to sell until the end of the year, so it is not overloaded.

Many travel companies have stable airfares.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Man, director of communications and marketing at TST Tourist, also agreed with the plan of a 5-day break from April 27 to May 1. At this time, customers can only choose domestic tours, short tours by road, and Southeast Asia tours.

"However, it is still a recommendation, not an official decision, so businesses cannot be proactive in arranging services. If the number of days off for customs clearance is decided early, businesses will have more opportunities to serve customers, although in reality it will be quite rushed, because there are only 10-15 days left to close the deal," Mr. Man calculated.

Ms. Minh Hanh (living in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City) said she supports the 5-day break option because if workers go to work on Monday, it will be difficult to concentrate, resulting in low productivity... While going on a 2-day vacation will only mean hanging around the city, making it difficult to go far.

Most tourism businesses said they have annual business plans and set specific goals for each period. In case customers change their plans, they are still supported to have suitable flights.

Ms. Huynh Phan Phuong Hoang, deputy general director of Vietravel, said that regarding airline tickets, this unit has booked a series of tickets for the whole year, so the prices are stable, without worrying about peak or low season.

"From the beginning of the year, we have set a growth plan of 15% and the services to prepare for this target have also been calculated. If the number of customers increases more, the domestic infrastructure is still guaranteed," Ms. Hoang believes.

However, the director of a travel company in Ho Chi Minh City was quite indifferent to the above information. He said that the extended holiday does not mean much to businesses, because the time is too close for them to change their business plans. If demand increases suddenly during this long holiday, the prices of tourism services may increase, while the businesses themselves are also stressed because of human resources issues.

"Business plans are always finalized many months in advance. Personnel calculations also depend on that. Therefore, management agencies should calculate from the previous year and propose an appropriate number of days off at the beginning of the year.

If we wait until the water is up to our necks to jump in, it will be very difficult for businesses to manage, and even when there are more customers, it won't necessarily be fun," he said.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/de-xuat-nghi-5-ngay-dip-le-30-4-doanh-nghiep-du-lich-co-kip-tro-tay-20240405165538632.htm