Vietnam Visa – Prices of hotel rooms at popular holiday destinations rose sharply during the four-day holiday beginning last Saturday.
The holiday celebrated both Liberation Day, which marked the end of the American War, and May Day.
Hotel rooms along famous beaches in Vung Tau, Phan Thiet and Nha Trang cities were fully booked in advance or rented at cut-throat prices to customers without bookings.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan, a holidaymaker from HCM City, said that she paid VND800,000 (US$38) for a single room at a hotel in Nha Trang City on the first night last weekend.
As she did not book the room in advance, the hotel asked her to pay VND1.5 million for the second night or check out, she said.
A team of inspectors in Vung Tau City found several hotels raising room rates by 60-80 per cent over listed prices of VND150,000-300,000 higher than normal days.
More than 110,000 tourists spent their holiday in Vung Tau City in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, according to the city administration.
The central province of Binh Thuan received around 148,300 visitors for the holiday, an increase of 10 per cent against the same period last year, according to the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The department reported that room rates at Mui Ne beach in Phan Thiet City rose by only 8 per cent during the holiday because they were booked in advance at the beginning of the year.
Free admission tickets to Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh between 28 April to May 2 attracted a record high number of visitors.
On Monday the Bai Chay Tourist Cruise Wharf handled around 21,400 visitors to Ha Long Bay, said Pham Quoc Binh, head of the wharf.
Existing boats failed to meet the increased demand although their capacity was raised to 65 trips per day from 35.
Large hotels along Bai Chay Beach were fully booked in advance while smaller ones 300-500 metres away from the beach raised their room rates to VND1.5 million per night from VND300,000-400,000 per night in normal days.
Da Nang City was flocked with visitors for the International Firework Competition held on April 29 and 30.
More than 1,200 visitors arrived at the Da Nang Railway Station last Saturday and nearly 2,000 visitors came to the city from Ha Noi and HCM City on Sunday, said Do Thai Lam, deputy head of the station.
Vietnam Airlines put an additional 195 flights on eight domestic routes to Da Nang City between 27 April and May 2, including 77 flights on the Ha Noi- Da Nang route and 56 on HCM City-Da Nang route.
Meanwhile, more than 40,600 tourists flocked to Thua Thien-Hue Province between April 28 to 30, double the number of this time last year, bringing in more than VND2.3 billion ($110,000) in revenues.
According to Phan Thanh Hai, director of the Hue Relics Preservation Centre, heritage sites in Hue attracted more than 16,000 tourists on April 29, the peak time of the holiday.
Besides visiting famous heritage sites such as the Citadel and the tombs of kings Minh Mang, Tu Duc and Khai Dinh, many tourists enjoyed various cultural events and community sports as part of the Thuan An Festival 2012 “Call of the Sea” held in the province between April 28-30.
Viet Nam News