Tourist numbers down in south during long holiday weekend

Phu Quoc Island, one of the country’s traditional tourism hotspots, saw visitor numbers plummet by 33 percent from the Reunification Day (April 30-May 3) holidays to 85,000.

According to its tourism department, hotel occupation rate was 65 percent.

The Central Highlands town of Da Lat received a similar number of visitors representing a 20 percent decline, and occupation rate was 60 percent.

Da Lat was flooded last Thursday, the first day of the holidays, with the downtown area being under nearly a meter of water.

Beach resort town Nha Trang saw a 50 percent occupation rate and 80 percent at hotels along Tran Phu Street in the city’s center. The number of visitors was 136,000.

Tourists take boat tours to visit islands in Nha Trang, September 1, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Bui Toan

Cat Ba Island in the northern port city of Hai Phong received 30,000 tourists, down 70 percent compared to the Reunification holiday.

Industry insiders said Phu Quoc, Nha Trang and Da Lat saw a tourism boom during the peak travel summer season, and so the lower number now was understandable.

However, northern mountainous localities where the rice harvest season began early this month saw a tourist upsurge during the holidays.

Lao Cai Province, home to Sa Pa, received 115,000 tourists, up 17 percent while Yen Bai, famous for golden yellow rice terraced fields, also welcomed 55,000 arrivals, more than twice the Reunification holiday’s crowds.

Thousands of people were spotted taking cable cars and trekking up Fansipan, Vietnam’s tallest peak, in Lao Cai on September 2 while Sa Pa hotels were fully booked.

Hanoi witnessed a slight decrease in visitor numbers to 422,000 while the number of visitors to HCMC doubled to 920,000.

The country recorded a total 3 million tourists during the National Day holiday, down 40 percent from the Reunification Day, according Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.