Travel firms criticize airlines for non-cooperation in attracting tourists

Le Quang Dao, Deputy Director of Tam Nhin Viet travel firm, said that the
cooperation between airlines and travel firms to carry out big campaigns to
promote tourism remains loose, which still cannot bring the desired effects.

andldquo;If the two sides do not help each other to reduce the tour fees and promote
tourism, the cooperation between the two sides will not have much significance,andrdquo;
Dao said.

Travel firms all say that airlines still follow the principle andldquo;every man for
himselfandrdquo;. Meanwhile, only when travel firms and airlines can cooperate well,
will they be able to attract tourists

The travel firms say that the airfares applied to tourists are the same with the
normal airfares. Kim Dung from Kenh Du Lich Viet travel firm said that since
airlines sell tickets themselves and not through tourist agents, there are no
air tickets with preferential rates for travel firms.

Due to the lack of close cooperation, travel firms are always in the passive
mode when organizing tours for big groups of travelers. Travel firms only need
to pay 30 percent for hotel rooms in advance, while the remainder will be paid
when travelers check out.

Meanwhile, travel firms have to make payment for air tickets at once.
Especially, they have to provide the full names of every traveler. The
requirement clearly does not please travel firms, because travelers usually book
tours just before the departure time.

andldquo;Airlines should apply a more flexible policy for travel firms. For example,
they should allow travel firms to pay 30 percent of the airfares in advance, or
allow to provide the names of travelers later,andrdquo; Dung has suggested.

Big travel firms such as Vietravel, Fiditour, and Hanoi Red Tour also complain
that it is very difficult to satisfy the requirements of travelers, because they
can only book limited numbers of air tickets.

Analysts also say that the cooperation between air carriers and travel firms
remains not tight, while blaming the monopoly in the aviation market on the lack
of cooperation.

According to Vu The Binh, Chair of the Vietnam Travel Association, a good
cooperation between travel firms and airlines will bring benefits to both. He
said that travel firms should suggest detailed cooperation programs.

andldquo;I think travel firms should draw up detailed cooperation plans for every
campaign or market, while they should not speak in generalities,andrdquo; Binh said,
reminding people that travel firms and airlines once cooperated very well in the
andldquo;Impressive Vietnamandrdquo; campaign.

Meanwhile, representatives from airlines argue that they lack information about
tourism promotion campaigns, which should be provided by travel firms and the
Vietnam National Administration of Tourism VNAT.

In order to settle the problem, VNAT and the national flag air carrier Vietnam
Airlines are drawing up a cooperation program for 2011-2015. The program will
include the projects on organizing famtrips, presstrips to popularize Vietnamandrsquo;s
tourism, and polish the images of Vietnamandrsquo;s tourism and Vietnam Airlines.

In fact, the newly opened air routes have supported much to the tourism
development. In the first six months of 2011, the number of foreign tourists
coming to Vietnam by air increased by 23.8 percent, while the number of foreign
tourists coming by sea decreased by 15.2 percent, and the number of travelers
coming by land decreased by 4.5 percent.

A lot of travel firms have reduced the tour fees which helped attract more
travelers after they signed cooperation agreements with airlines.

Saigontourist, for example, has cooperated with Vietnam Airlines and Japan
Airlines and Japanese travelers to resume IKO Travel tour, after the Japanese
market has recovered from the catastrophes. Doan Thanh Tra, Marketing Director
of Saigontourist, said that the cooperation has helped reduce the tour fee by 12
million dong per traveler.

Source = lookatvietnam