'Holding' plane tickets and hotel rooms 4 months before Tet travel

Months before Lunar New Year, many tourists have completed booking flight tickets and hotel rooms for their New Year's travel.

Many tourists have started planning long trips next year. Photo: Duy Hieu.

Although there is no schedule for Tet holiday, Gia Han (28 years old, living in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City) has already bought a plane ticket for a 2-week trip to Egypt (January 26 - February 8, 2025). The round-trip ticket price from Ho Chi Minh City to Cairo is nearly 20 million VND, which is expected not to increase much during Tet.

However, this tourist still booked tickets early to avoid shortages and create excitement for the journey.

"I work remotely, I don't have to go to the office so I can go away for longer than the general holiday schedule. On the other hand, I'm a bit "bored" with Tet so I want to find experiences far away," Han shared.

The trend of traveling to celebrate Tet, including New Year's Eve and the first day of the Lunar New Year, is welcomed by many young people and families. Photo: Phuong Lam.

Since October, the tourism market for the 2025 Lunar New Year has gradually become bustling, with travel companies opening sales for Tet tours with popular departure dates from December 23 to the 10th day of Tet (January 22 - February 7, 2025).

Ms. Nguyen Nguyet Van Khanh, Director of Vietravel Marketing Department, said that up to now, the unit has recorded nearly 30,000 customers registering for Tet tours during the period of January 24 - February 1, 2025. Foreign tours are of the most interest because Vietnamese customers want to take advantage of the long holiday to go abroad.

Similarly, data from the Sales Department of Viet Travel Company shows that there are many customers interested in and booking reservations for routes to mainland China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Australia. Domestic routes are expected to peak in early December.

Meanwhile, Mr. Phan Ngoc Tuan, Deputy General Director of Marketing and Communications of Vietourist Holdings JSC, said that the company has achieved 100% of customers booking tours to Singapore and Malaysia during the traditional Tet holiday.

Besides, the tour to welcome New Year's Eve and watch New Year's fireworks in Phan Thiet is also attracting a lot of attention from tourists.

Tours to mainland China, Japan, Singapore or Malaysia are of interest to many Vietnamese tourists during the upcoming Lunar New Year. Photo: Duy Hieu.

Similar to Gia Han, tourist Thanh Nam (29 years old, living in Da Nang) has also completed plans for a trip during the Lunar New Year from January 28 to February 4, 2025.

This graphic designer spent 26 million VND on a pair of round-trip tickets to Karachi (Pakistan). He booked a mid-range hotel in the city for nearly 900,000 VND/night, and spent another 5 million VND on food and other expenses. The estimated cost for the trip to celebrate Tet away from home is about 38 million VND.

Tam Pham (living in Ho Chi Minh City) also chose to go abroad during Tet. She chose to go to Morocco from January 25 to February 7, 2025 and bought her plane ticket 4 months in advance. Tam said this has been a habit for many years.

"I like to buy tickets early so I can be better prepared," she said.

However, instead of going alone like Thanh Nam and Gia Han, Tam chose to go with friends she met on social media. They had never met before, but had one thing in common: a passion for travel and having visited many different countries around the world.

Tam Pham chose to celebrate Tet with strangers during his trip to Morocco. Photo: Tam Pham.

Meanwhile, for domestic tours, Ms. Nguyen Nguyet Van Khanh from Vietravel said that trips to experience local culture and explore new destinations, creating more experiences about Tet customs in each region of Vietnam are attracting tourists' attention.

Popular products include Hanoi - Sa Pa - Ha Giang in the North; Da Nang - Hue - Quy Nhon in the Central region; the Central Highlands region and the Western provinces.

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