A ritual kit displayed for sale to visitors to Hang Duong Cemetery in Con Dao Island.
The move has drawn significant attention from travellers, especially Vietnamese tourists, as Con Dao is widely known as a destination for spiritual tourism and historical remembrance.
In addition to the new flight route, Vietjet has announced it will sell ritual kits to passengers travelling to Con Dao. Four different package options are available, ranging from VND450,000 to VND6.4 million.
Nguyen Thi Hoa, a traveller, shared that she and many others visit Con Dao annually to pay respects at Hang Duong Cemetery, where thousands of fallen Vietnamese revolutionaries are buried.
“We were quite surprised to learn that the airline now offers ritual kits for passengers,” Hoa said. “Normally, we buy offerings at local shops on the island, which are readily available.”
Speaking to Dantri/Dtinews Newspaper, cultural researcher Nguyen Anh Hong noted that spiritual tourism remains popular among Vietnamese people and is closely linked to the nation’s cultural and religious beliefs.
According to Hong, individuals participating in spiritual activities, including pilgrimages and visits to historical sites, should focus more on spiritual significance rather than elaborate material offerings.
Located less than one kilometre from the town centre, Hang Duong Cemetery spans 20 hectares and is the final resting place of tens of thousands of patriots and Vietnamese revolutionary fighters. Many were imprisoned and perished during the two resistance wars against French and American forces between 1862 and 1975. It is estimated that more than 20,000 people died under brutal torture at the site, with bodies buried throughout the cemetery grounds.
Out of more than 1,900 graves at Hang Duong, only 713 have been identified. Among the notable figures buried here are Vo Thi Sau, a resistance heroine executed by the French at the age of 19 in 1952; former General Secretary Le Hong Phong, who died in 1942 aged 40; revolutionary Nguyen An Ninh, who died in 1943 aged 43; and Cao Van Ngoc, who passed away in 1961 at the age of 64.
