Figures from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism show that the number of people travelling abroad via Tan Son Nhat International Airport in the first half rose by 30 per cent year on year to 485,368.

Dang Nguyen, head of foreign travel at the HCMC-based PIT Tour, said the large number of Vietnamese visitors to Thailand recently has caused a shortage of tourist buses.

“There are sometimes 50 groups of Vietnamese tourists visiting Bangkok’s Safari World Zoo, 10 times higher than usual,” he said.

Tran The Duy, deputy CEO of Viettravel, said the number of package tours to Thailand has jumped by 30 per cent.

“Viettravel sometimes has to book 170 seats on Lufthansa Airlines flights between HCMC and Bangkok,” he said, adding that four to five Thailand packages are sold every day.

Ta Thi Cam Vinh, head of Ben Thanh Tourist’s foreign travel department, said the company’s Thai partners have declined to accept any more Vietnamese tourists since there are not enough hotels or Vietnamese-speaking tour guides.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has put the number of Vietnamese tourists in the first six months at 244,882, 37 per cent up from the same period last year.

Vietnamese are also visiting Singapore in huge numbers. Goh Tser Puan, director of LC Travel Planners in the island-nation, said hotels are full up until mid-August.

Vietnamese travel agencies blame the slump in domestic tourism to the high costs and the fact that Vietnamese destinations are not attractive enough.

On the other hand, international carriers constantly offer cheap tickets to Singapore and Thailand, making foreign tours cheaper.

Thai Airways International and Turkish Airlines, for instance, are offering round tickets between HCMC and Bangkok for $245 and $215, while tickets from Hanoi to HCMC costs as much as VND4 million ($200).

La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism, said the department had urged closer cooperation between travel agencies and partners like hotels and airlines to reduce prices to boost domestic tourism.

“But we have received no feedback so far,” he lamented.