18,000 tourists spend US$18.3 million on foreign tours during Lunar New Year

About 18,000 people in Ho Chi Minh City chose to travel aboard during Tet. Photo danviet.vn

Around 18,000 Vietnamese tourists chose foreign tours through travel agencies in Ho Chi Minh City during the Lunar New Year holiday this year, spending a total of VND430 billion (US$18.3 million), according to a report from the city's Department of Tourism.

The number of tourists choosing foreign tours accounted for 55 to 65 percent of the total domestic and foreign tours.

This is an unexpected growth, according to tourism businesses.

Nguyen Nguyet Van Khanh, director of Vietravel's marketing department, said that the company recorded a total of more than 47,000 tourists registered for Tet tourism, much higher than last year.

This year, despite the effects of the pandemic, tourists are still excited about their plans to travel abroad because their favourite destinations have almost returned to normal and visa policies are also more convenient.

Destinations such as Thailand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Europe and the US always attract many tourists; some tourists even choose to pre-book foreign tours in March and April 2023.

Similarly, travel companies such as Saigontourist, TST Tourist and Benthanh Tourist have had dozens of tourists going abroad during this Tet holiday.

Tran Quoc Bao, deputy general director of Saigontourist Travel, said that the number of tourists travelling aboard on the Lunar New Year holidays through the company reached 21,000.