The high price of airfares has forced many tourists to consider and choose means of transport by road, rail, etc. This opens up opportunities for travel by train, with cheaper fares and more savings for users.

Travel and rail links

Grasping this trend, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and Vietnam Railways Corporation have just signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation. Accordingly, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and Vietnam Railways Corporation will cooperate to develop a preferential fare policy specifically for rail tourists in annual stimulus programs to attract tourists; develop a mechanism to support services and sightseeing at tourist destinations for passengers with train tickets. Coordinate with localities to connect road transport between station areas and tourist destinations. Introduce train stations to pick up and drop off passengers on railway routes that are connected to tourist destinations and heritage destinations on the digital tourism map. Encourage travel companies to bring tourists by rail; connect tourism service businesses to participate in the cooperation program to stimulate rail tourism, creating new tourism products associated with railways.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho An Phong commented that the cooperation between the tourism and railway sectors will certainly create attractive products and combo packages to serve tourists, enhancing the competitiveness of Vietnam's tourism. In addition, it will also promote communication and promote the image of Vietnam's tourism and railway services, attracting domestic and international tourists. Connect localities and tourism businesses to build new, unique and attractive tourism products, and develop effective tourism stimulus programs.

Director of the National Tourism Administration Nguyen Trung Khanh also highly appreciated the potential of rail tourism and said that this type of tourism not only brings new and interesting experiences to tourists but also contributes to diversifying tourism products. The railway system helps connect localities and destinations across the country, creating favorable conditions for tourists to explore the beauty of each region. This is an important factor in promoting local tourism development, connecting destinations and creating attractive and diverse inter-regional and inter-route tourism products. "Through close cooperation, the two sides will effectively exploit the great potential of the railway system, not only helping to increase the number of tourists but also improving service quality, creating new and attractive tourism products and services combined with the railway transport system along the length of the country" - Mr. Khanh said.

From the perspective of a tourism business, Mr. Nguyen Trung Thanh, Director of Golden T Travel Company, said that one of the most important factors of transportation is the price issue. Therefore, the railway industry should study to reduce ticket prices further, have a reasonable price policy to reach more customers. In the future, airlines will increase night flights with deeply reduced prices, equal to train tickets, so the competitiveness of rail tourism is still low, not very attractive. "Reducing ticket prices will stimulate customer demand, to further expand the market of rail tourists" - Mr. Thanh said.

Mr. Pham Minh Quang, General Director of Dolphin Tour, suggested that to promote the development of rail tourism, it is necessary to invest in more beautiful and high-quality train cars, as well as high-class experience spaces to serve high-class customers. In addition, because the time customers spend on the train is very long, it is necessary to design more entertainment products during the long journey on the train.

Local stimulus support

From a local perspective, since the end of June, Da Nang has pioneered the implementation of a summer tourism stimulus program including 4 special combo packages for guests flying from Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi. Participating in the above program, guests only spend about 3 million and are provided with services including round-trip airfare, 2 nights at a hotel and airport shuttle. However, the flights are at night.

Along with Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City is also working with airlines and tourism businesses (travel agencies, accommodation establishments) to create night flight combo products for the summer, the end of the year and possibly annually. Many large hotels have registered to participate with different discounts, from 20% to 100%.

Talking about Da Nang's stimulus program, Mr. Nguyen Duy Giang, Head of the Travel Services Department of Hanoi Tourism Corporation in Da Nang City, said that after more than 1 month of implementation, the program has been quite positive, attracting many interested and consulted tourists. However, Mr. Giang also commented that this stimulus program mainly creates an effect. "The advantage of the program is that it attracts the attention of tourists to Da Nang, which other provinces have not been able to do. This shows that Da Nang City is interested in and investing in the tourism industry, creating the best conditions for tourists" - Mr. Giang said. According to Mr. Giang, if other localities want to implement this program, they need to build new products first.

Mr. Pham Anh Vu, Deputy General Director of Viet Tourism Company, assessed that Da Nang's program on tourism stimulus combo by linking aviation and accommodation facilities is a good idea to stimulate domestic tourism demand and this model can be replicated and implemented on a large scale. However, in the long term, aviation is still an indispensable element of tourism. "Domestic tourism has the potential to develop, but to stimulate demand, it requires the cooperation of travel businesses, support policies from the Government and close links between related industries such as policies to support airfares and tourism service prices for travel businesses to build effective stimulus programs. In particular, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Transport need to strengthen links and cooperation to implement synchronous and effective tourism stimulus programs" - the representative of this enterprise commented.

(To be continued)

(*) See Lao Dong Newspaper from issue dated August 1