Many local travellers are favouring tours to regional countries like Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Long-haul tours to Europe, the US, Australia and Canada have also seen high sales.

According to the Viet Nam Tourism Association, some 3.5 million Vietnamese spent about US$3.5 billion on overseas travel last year. Each year, around 1.1 million Vietnamese citizens travel to China, 1 million to Cambodia, 500,000 to Thailand, 300,000 to Singapore, 200,000 to Malaysia and 110,000 to South Korea.

Sales of outbound tours have risen by around 20 per cent this year, the association said. Eighty to 90 per cent of the Vietnamese visitors to the US, Europe and Canada self-finance their visits, according to Nguyen The Khai, director of Perfect Tour Travel. –VNS