Young Vietnamese are increasingly choosing overseas tours during holidays since prices are getting lower.

Sydney Opera House. Photo: Huu Duong.

Just two or three years ago, a tour of the Republic of Korea cost VND 20 million (USD 857) or more and the cheapest tour of Japan was VND 30 million.

Now trips to the RoK, Taiwan, Japan, and mainland China cost just a little more than to Southeast Asian countries, the manager of a travel company in HCM City said.

A five-day visit to the RoK now costs VND 11.5-12 million while a four-day trip to Japan costs VND 21-22 million.

Some travel firms even offer low-cost tours of the RoK and Taiwan at a mere VND 8-9 million.

Choosing outbound tours has become a trend in Vietnam as local people’s incomes increase and their consumption habits are changing, said Nguyen Van Tuan, General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

According to preliminary statistics of the Vietnam Tourism Association, about 6.5 million Vietnamese traveled abroad in 2016, spending about USD 7-8 billion.

Every year, about 500,000 Vietnamese went to Europe, 150,000 to Taiwan, 250,000 to Japan, 800,000 to Thailand and over 1 million to Cambodia.

Many travel companies have seen a two-digit annual growth of outbound tours in recent years. Foreign tourism promotion agencies have continuously come to Vietnam to promote their countries and territories’ tourism.

With various policies and programs to promote tourism, stimulate demands and provide direct support for Vietnamese travel agencies and tourists launched by foreign markets such as Japan, Thailand, Singapore and the RoK, the number of Vietnamese going abroad for travelling is on the rise.

A report by Mastercard on the future of outbound tours in Asia-Pacific projected that around 7.5 million Vietnamese will travel overseas by 2021, accounting for 9.5 percent of the country’s population./.

( VNF/VNA )