The suspension during the National Day holiday caused lots of difficulties for visitors and losses to the local tourism industry.
According to the Kien Giang Provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, Search and Rescue, and Civil Defence, local areas experienced heavy rain and strong winds between September 1-3 due to Typhoon Saola.
"The storm sank two fishing boats and three fishermen had to be rescued by local border guards, while another drowned," the committee said. "We had to suspend boat and ferry services between Rach Gia to Nam Du, Phu Quoc and between Phu Quoc and Ha Tien from September 2. It was the National Day holiday and local islands received large numbers of visitors. About 10,000 tourists on Phu Quoc were stranded."
Hotels in Phu Quoc have reported a dip of 30 percent in occupancy rates during this year's National Day holiday against last year as many guests cancelled bookings due to bad weather. A hotel owner in Duong Dong Town, Dinh Thi Thanh Thuy, said that less than ten percent of her hotel rooms were booked during this year's holiday.
