The short New Year 2025 holiday makes Nguyen Anh, Ho Chi Minh City, not interested in traveling because he is afraid of the expense of traveling, waiting for the 9-day Tet holiday to go.
Usually, Nguyen Anh takes advantage of the holidays to travel because of the nature of his work, so he doesn't have much time off, but this upcoming New Year's Eve, he decided to stay home and have fun in the city. He said that this time he only has one day off, "not worth the effort of traveling". In fact, many other tourists also choose like Nguyen Anh - according to reports from travel agencies - because the vacation time is short, close to Lunar New Year.
VNA Travel recorded that the number of New Year's Eve visitors did not increase as much as other holidays. With a one-day, mid-week holiday schedule, tourists had difficulty choosing a destination as they had to ask for extra days off if they were traveling or just staying overnight near the city.
Viet Travel Company determined that customers rarely travel far during this time, focusing on selling short tours within a 200km radius of Ho Chi Minh City to serve small groups in need. In the South, popular destinations for New Year's Eve include Da Lat, Vung Tau, Phan Thiet; while popular destinations in the North include Moc Chau, Vinh Phuc and Ninh Binh. Deputy General Director Pham Anh Vu said that customers' priority is 1-2 day trips.
Meanwhile, Trang An Travel also surveyed customers and found that the majority of them are waiting for Lunar New Year travel. The short New Year holiday falls in the middle of the week, combined with economic difficulties, so customers have more concerns than spending on travel.
Despite low demand, airfares during the New Year holiday are still high. A survey on the afternoon of November 26 showed that the cheapest airfare from Hanoi to Phu Quoc on January 1 was nearly VND3 million one-way, nearly double the price of a week earlier. Similarly, the cheapest one-way fare from Hanoi to Da Nang was VND1.5 million, flying early in the morning; other flights cost around VND1.9-2.5 million, about 35-40% higher than usual.
Mr. Vu said the problem of lack of trains and business policies makes ticket prices still high even though tourism demand is low. A representative of Vietnam Tourism said that during peak seasons, high-priced ticket ranges are opened first to measure demand - high demand means more sales and vice versa.
Regarding international tours, General Director Nguyen Huu Cuong of Trang An Travel said that the company currently only sells a few short foreign tours such as Thailand during the New Year holiday. Customers are currently interested in Lunar New Year products with a 9-day holiday and long-distance trips such as Europe, Türkiye or winter skiing in Korea and Japan.
The number of Lunar New Year products at Vietnam Tourism is currently 3-4 times higher than that of the New Year 2024. Northern tourism programs are leading the domestic tour trend while international tours are still focusing on traditional itineraries in Japan, Korea, and China. New, high-priced destinations such as Hokkaido or Harbin are currently still picky about customers. It is expected that from the end of December, the demand for Tet tour registration among Vietnamese people will be higher.
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