Short term, low cost tours favored for New Year travel season VietNamNet Bridge – The 2013 New Year holiday would last four days. However, travel firms say most clients book short term 2-3 day tours. Low cost tours preferred A senior executive of Vietravel said travel firms can attract more clients nowadays only if they can design the tours that fit people’s pockets and fit their tastes. Short term tours which last two or three days prove to be the most wanted by clients in the New Year travel season. “When booking 2-3-day tours, tourists can have both interesting trips and free time to relax before they go back to work,” the executive said. Therefore, a series of short term tours with near destinations have been designed. The tours from Hanoi to Thung Nai, Mai Chau, Moc Chau, Ha Giang, Cao Bang and Dien Bien which last 2-3 days, now cost 1-4 million dong, affordable to all people.  Meanwhile, Vietrantours focuses on exploiting the tours by land, including the ones from Hanoi to Ha Giang, Hanoi to Sa Pa, Hanoi to Moc Chau, to be associated with donation programs, under which travelers would have the opportunities of meeting local people and give gifts to the children in the localities. Thu Anh, a communication executive of Vietrans Tour, said the tours to the northeast are the good suggestions for the tourists who are seeking short term tours. Travelers would find it very interesting to go to the area with original beautiful landscapes and cultures. Especially, the tours can fit different groups of travelers, from middle aged tourists to students, from young people to students, businessmen to office workers. Meanwhile, travel firms have to offer price discounts for long term tours to stimulate the demand. Sharp price discounts of up to 40 percent have been offered for the tours from Hanoi to Phu Quoc Island, from Hanoi to Da Lat, where travelers can stay at four star hotels. With similar policies, Vietravel has also slashed the tour fees for the tours from Hanoi to the destination points in the central region and the islands in the south. Especially, travelers can enjoy the price reduction of 3.3 million dong per traveler, if they go to Quang Binh province or the ancient capital city of Hue. Other travel firms including Hanoi Redtours, Hanoitourist, Fiditour and Lien Bang Travelink have also slashed the tour fees by 10-30 percent. The further destinations would have higher tour fee reductions. The outbound tour market is not bustling as expected, though the number of travelers to nearby markets such as Hong Kong, China and South East Asian countries still keeps rising slightly. The “hottest” outbound tour now is the one to Indonesia with the direct air route, which allows saving money and time. Vietravel is offering the tours at 7,690,000 dong, the price which is considered the lowest level for now. An executive of Vietrantour said Vietnamese still like the tours to regional countries, because they can both travel and go shopping at the same time. The shopping centers in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong now offer the big sale-off campaigns with the price discount rates of up to 70 percent. Travel firms don’t expect too much Most travel firms say they do not expect the sharp increase in the number of tourists this Christmas and New Year season, saying that the 10 percent growth rate would be enough to satisfy them. Vietravel hopes it can obtain the 20 percent growth rate, while Saigontourist 15 percent. To Quoc