Vietnamese tourists flock to China for tourism

Thousands of tourists lined up at Lao Cai - Hekou Border Gate on the morning of the 4th day of Tet to travel to China, customs clearance took about 20 minutes.

Ms. Hai Yen, representative of Lalaland Travel Company, said that since the 3rd, Vietnamese tourists have started flocking to Hekou. In the morning, the border gate is usually crowded but not congested for hours like the same period last year.

This year, the Chinese side processed the procedures quickly because all the guests followed the official travel book, and only had to wait about 15-20 minutes to clear customs. On the morning of the 4th day of Tet, Ms. Yen led 4 groups of 29-seat cars from Sa Pa to Ha Khau and 5 groups of individual guests joined the group, each group had 7-20 guests. Most of the guests going to Ha Khau had a pre-scheduled trip in Sa Pa.

"The number of visitors this Tet holiday is high but not overloaded. The situation will still be bustling until the end of this week," said Ms. Yen.

On the morning of the fourth day of Tet (February 13), tourist Nguyen Nhung, from Hanoi, said she lined up from 9:30 a.m. and waited about 15 minutes to clear customs at the Lao Cai - Ha Khau border gate. She combined her schedule of visiting Sa Pa and passing through Ha Khau. "There are more shops and accommodations, there are more options," said Ms. Nhung.

Passengers line up to enter Lao Cai border gate on the morning of February 12. Photo: Van Nam Group Tours

Mr. Truong Dac, who lives in Lao Cai and specializes in receiving individual customers to pair with partners on the Chinese side, said that compared to the New Year holiday, the number of customers this time is only 1/3. Although the border gate is still crowded, the customs clearance time is much faster. On February 12, Mr. Dac's group of 20 people took about an hour to clear customs.

However, large groups of guests from multiple companies will have to wait longer because they need to gather enough people. Some units subjectively do not gather guests to line up early before 6:30, which can cause a large group to wait up to four hours.

Kieu Bridge area on the morning of February 12. Photo: Truong Dac

Mr. Dac said that during this holiday, the number of guests asked to go into private rooms for inspection was much lower than during the New Year. In addition, dividing the lines at the Kieu Bridge connecting the two countries also reduced the jostling and chaos when queuing.

According to VnExpress , travel companies operating the Chau Hong Ha route, passing through the Hekou border gate, do not organize tours continuously during Tet. Lunar New Year is a major holiday in China, so the number of domestic tourists from the country of a billion people is also very large, some services are not guaranteed. Companies tend to organize groups about three days apart so that tour guides have time to return and hotels can handle rooms better.

Ms. Hoang Tuyet, representative of Van Nam Group, said that the price of the Chau Hong Ha tour this time is 4.5 million VND per person, the Kunming tour is 7 million VND per person - 20-25% higher than normal days. During Tet, the unit organizes tours on February 12 and 15 with a total of 550 guests.

"Services are scarce and the sights are crowded, so the company prioritizes experienced tour guides," said Ms. Tuyet. From February 15, the company will remove the Tet surcharge and from February 20, tour groups will run continuously as usual.

According to Mr. Dac, tourists traveling during this time need to be aware that some services are not guaranteed, and the food is harder to eat because the restaurants mainly serve Chinese customers. Some services such as taxis are also scarce, so the prices are more expensive. On February 12, Mr. Dac's group could not catch a taxi back to the hotel, so they had to pay 30 CNY (100,000 VND) for a 2 km distance by tuk tuk. On normal days, the taxi fare for a similar distance is around 10-12 CNY (35,000 VND).

Bich Phuong - Tu Nguyen

Source link: https://vnexpress.net/khach-viet-nhon-nhip-sang-trung-quoc-du-lich-4711265.html