The two-day April 30 - May 1 holiday combines the commemoration of the liberation of Saigon on April 30, 1975 with International Labor Day.
Of around 10,000 tourists thronging to Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh over the holiday, foreign vacationers made up 80 percent, the highest ratio ever recorded.
The Quang Ninh’s Bai Chay ferry station said its fleet made around 400 voyages per day.
The station was set to receive around 10,000-12,000 tourists over the next few days, management said.
Three international cruise vessels also berthed at Ha Long for Reunification Day, carrying with them a total of some 4,000 foreign tourists.
The beach resort town of Nha Trang in the central region earned daily profits of around VND10 billion (US$625,000) from April 29 through Friday as at least 20,000 vacationers spent their holidays there.
Other coastal staples in the central province of Binh Thuan and the southern town of Vung Tau – the closest beach resort town to Ho Chi Minh City – also recorded huge turnouts over the holiday.
Binh Thuan, home to the famous beaches of Mui Ne and Ham Tien, received some 100,000 holidaymakers, marking an increase of 30 percent year-on-year.
All local resorts and hotels were full, authorities said.
Vung Tau’s 200,000 tourists – a 10 percent increase on last year’s holiday period – stretched all resources in the beach town.
Skyrocketing prices, substandard services
Many hotels capitalized on the holiday crescendo to inflate the room prices, angering many vacationers.
In Ha Long Bay, many visitors had to set up makeshift shelters on the sidewalk as they could not afford the increased hotel prices.
Hotel rooms in Nha Trang Town recorded an average increase of 80 percent for the holiday.
Average double room prices surged to VND500,000 each from the regular rate of VND300,000.
A four-person room soared to VND900,000 from VND500,000.
In Vung Tau, room prices tripled.
Several tourists said they had to pay deposits to keep their reservation.
Parking and food prices also jumped in Vung Tau and many complained of overpricing at the city’s restaurants.
Vung Tau vacationers also complained of poor services, saying that many local tourist areas were filthy.
Many tourists criticized local authorities for not preventing rampant illegal motorbike racing and doing nothing to curb the widespread price hikes and fleecing.
Vung Tau authorities admitted they had failed to regulate unfair price fixing.
Many tourists who took the Greenlines’ Vung Tau-HCMC hydrofoil route aired their grievances on Thursday as many ticket holders could not find a seat and had to stand.
A Greenlines official said the problem might have stemmed from mistakes made by company ticket agents.
The representative said the company would review the problems and compensate disgruntled customers.
Source: Agencies