Vacationers seek beach escape for holiday weekend

HCM CITY — Beach trips are the favoured destinations for the upcoming National Day holiday on September 2, according to travel firms.

Travel firms have reported an increasing number of tour bookings for the three-day holiday weekend, which starts September 1.

Đoàn Thị Thanh Trà, marketing and communication director of Saigontourist Travel Service Company, said the number of bookings for overseas and domestic tours for the  holiday so far have been 21,000, up 10 per cent year-on-year.

White-sand beaches in the central city of Đà Nẵng and Phú Quốc Island in the southern province of Kiên Giang and well-known tourist destinations in Đà Lạt and the northern provinces have attracted most holidaymakers, Trà said.

Overseas tours to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are popular choices for the holiday, she said.

A representative of Vietravel’s marketing and communication department said that one- to three-day tours were mostly chosen for the upcoming holiday.

Travellers in the south have chosen destinations such as Vũng Tàu, Phan Thiết, Mỹ Tho, and Bến Tre for road tours and beach trips by air to Côn Đảo Island, Phú Quốc Island, Nha Trang, Phú Yên, and Quy Nhơn.

Vietravel expects to serve more than 17,200 customers on this holiday, up 15 per cent compared to last year, with outbound travellers accounting for 60 per cent.

Nguyễn Minh Mẫn, head of TST Tourist’s marketing and communication department, said demand for tours with a customised itinerary for a group of friends or families has risen strongly in recent years.

Group tours are chosen by young couples, a family with three to 15 members who love to explore nature beauty, cultural heritage sites and historic relics, Mẫn said. —VNS