Several contracts to bring foreign tourists to Vietnam have recently been cancelled due to the shortage of hotel rooms in the country.
According to Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), nearly 350,000 international tourists came to Vietnam in January, up 15.9 per cent compared January 2005, and 11.7 per cent more than December 2005.
The figures promise a busy year for travel companies but, on the other side, force hoteliers to announced rooms shortage or mull over increasing room charges.
According to hotels, the reason is that many foreign visitors have chosen Vietnam for their winter holiday in order to enjoy the atmosphere of Vietnam’s lunar New Year festival (Tet).
In some cases, visitors are displeased because they do not have rooms meeting the standards agreed to in contracts.
"We were happy because the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam has soared, but now there are no hotel room left,” complained Director of Ben Thanh Tourist Hanoi Company Luu Duc Ke.
Tre Viet travel company has had to refuse two groups of Korean and Japanese visitors because they could not book rooms.
“All hotels are working at full capacity, especially high-class ones," said Tre Viet Director.
In Hanoi, many big hotels are fully booked. Sofitel Metropole said that its room occupation rate is consistently more than 90 per cent, with room charges averaging US$150/day, higher for luxury suites. Hilton, Sofitel Plaza, and Melia hotels are in the same situation.
At famous tourist sites like Da Lat, Phan Thiet, Nha Trang, Da Nang, and Phu Quoc, rooms are booked months ahead though prices are around 40 per cent higher than normal at some places.
Hoang Giang, a tour guide at Sa Pa, said that except for big tourism companies which are given priority in booking rooms, smaller firms cannot find rooms for visitors, especially on weekends.
The shortfall of hotel rooms has contributed to the increase of the room price, Luu Duc Ke said, revealing that room prices at some smaller two to three star hotels also increased by around 30 per cent. In Ha Long, Sa Pa and Hue, it is very difficult to find a room, he added.
Since room price have increased, tour prices have also become higher, Trung Dung, a marketing employee of a big travel company, said, adding that many contracts have been canceled because visitors do not agree with new tour prices.
"I think concerned agencies should soon map out proper measures to deal with the situation to better serve the demand of foreign tourists as well as to keep our credit," Dung noted.
Vietnam now has almost 2,000 travel companies. The number of foreign travel ones has, however, not been reported.
In 2006, Vietnam expects to cater to 3.6-3.8 million foreign tourists and 16.7 million domestic vacationers with total revenue of VND36 trillion (US$2.28 billion), compared to 3.34 million, 15 million and VND30 trillion (US$1.91 billion), respectively, achieved last year.
Vnexpress
Vietnamese
