Vietnam's local travel agents started opening tours for the festival of the national independence day (September 2^nd) with the number of tourists to increase by 15% compared to the same period last year.

Specifically, the Saigon Travel Service Company (Saigontourist) has launched 50 tours, including 35 local tours and 12 outbound tours, which will start from August 30^th to September 2^nd. The number of tourists the company expects is 2,500. The initial statistics by the Outbound Office, show the number of tourists registering tours to Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, and Hong Kong reached an estimated 1,000.

At Viettravel, the number of tourists buying tours to participate in the great festival of the 1,000-year anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi and to Nha Trang, Thailand, and China during the September 2^nd festival has increased by 20%. Ms Duong Mai Lan from Viettravel said that the increasing number of tourists is due to prices of these tours sharply declining. The tour of the great festival of the 1,000-year anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi reduced in price by 30%. Moreover, because Thailand and China are promoting their image in Vietnam, prices of tours to the two places decreased by 15-20% in August."

Fiditour and Hanoitourist also sold tours during the festival and the number of tourists are also expected to increase by 13-15%.

The travel agents said that tour prices during the September 2^nd do not increase and many promotional campaigns have been launched. The festival also concurs with the low season, thus they sold tours at affordable price to encourage both foreign and local tourists.