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| Vietnamese tourists visit the Vuc Quanh relics in the central province of Quang Binh's Dong Hoi City. |
Local travel costs rose by 20-30 percent during the year, with the price of an average Ha Long Bay tour also increasing by about 40 percent. Travel to neighbouring countries like Thailand, China, Cambodia and Singapore became more popular, with some tours to these nations 20 percent cheaper than a trip from HCM City to Hanoi.
About 3 million Vietnamese went abroad through Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCM City in 2011, doubling the number of outbound passengers in 2010.
Analysts warned that high costs could make the local tourism industry less competitive than regional destinations.
HCM City People's Committee Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Hong said that tourism companies should strive to reduce the prices as well as improve service quality.
Saigontourist Travel Service Co director Vo Tai Anh countered that up to 90 percent of their costs were out of their hands, dependent on other service suppliers such as airlines, restaurants, hotels, transportation companies and others. With such dependence on other suppliers, it would be difficult to cut prices by even 5 percent.
It would require close co-ordination between carriers, hotels, restaurants, tour operators, localities and other service suppliers to cut prices and sharpen the competitive edge of the industry.
Air fares constituted a large proportion of the total costs of tourism, and the success of the domestic tourism promotion programme in 2008-09 could be attributed to air fare reductions during that period, noted HCM City Tourism Association vice chairwoman Nguyen Thi Khanh.
The nation welcomed over 6 million international visitors last year, 3.5 million of whom arrived through HCM City, and tourism generated revenues of VND130 trillion ($6.25 billion), an increase of 30 percent over the previous year.
