Published:  14:08 Monday - September 19, 2011

With many travel agencies willing to sell their tours at extremely low prices to attract customers, tourism packages to Vietnam’s central region for Thai tourists are losing quality.

According to the tourism authorities of the central provinces, more than 85,000 Thailand tourists in Vietnam travel have arrived in the central region in the first eight months of this year, which is 20 percent of the total foreign arrivals to the area.

Cao Tri Dung, director of Da Nang-based Vitour travel agency, said the number of Thai arrivals would soar in next June, when the Friendship 3 Bridge connecting Thailand’s Nakhon Phanom and Laos’ Khammounan is completed.

However, despite the huge increase in quantity, the tour packages’ quality is on sharp decline.

The director of a tour organizer said many Vietnam travel agencies had rushed to lower their prices to lure customers, making price per tourist plunge to only US$40 a day from the $60 a day in 2005.

Half of the sum is to pay for transportation costs and the remaining for accommodation at three-star hotels and other services.

Vietnam travel - Vietnam travel companies - Tours in Vietnam

Vietnam travel agencies - tour packages - Tour quality