As Tet is nearing, Hanoi becomes more busy and exciting, with colourful decorations on streets.
Workers install decorative lamps around Hoan Kiem Lake
Decorations prepared by Le Nin Park
The symbol of Hanoi on Dien Bien Phu Street
Flowers by Hoan Kiem Lake
Trang Tien Street
Electric apricot blossom on Hang Bai Street
Decorations on trees around Hoan Kiem Lake
Hanoi streets at night
After weeks of wide scale promotions for the upcoming Tet holiday, bookings have suffered a marked decline from last year with travel companies noting a poor response from customers, according to a report in Tuoi tre (The Youth) Newspaper.
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| Big travel companies such as Saigontourist, Vietravel, Ben Thanh, and Fiditour, have also reported having a lot of vacancies on inbound and outbound tours.— Photo chonmua |
Travel companies are “sitting on the fire,” the paper said, adding that many intend to give back air tickets at a loss. Big travel companies such as Saigontourist, Vietravel, Ben Thanh, and Fiditour, have also reported having a lot of vacancies on inbound and outbound tours.
Travel companies began a strong push for Tet travel products last year, with a number of companies developing specialised tours.
At Ben Thanh Tourist, a tour to Thailand from January 1 to February 7, departing daily and priced from VND10.365 million per person (including vouchers of Thai massage, lunch buffet, and other expenses), failed to reach the required 16 bookings for the 20 group package, according to a company representative.
This time last year, the tour was well on the way to closing bookings.
Tran Doan The Duy, deputy general manager of Vietravel said the possibility of a demonstration in Bangkok on February 2 had deterred a number of customers.
Some had called to ask for updates and said they would make the decision later, he said.
Several travel companies have been unwilling to receive deposits or sign contracts with customers out of fear of paying a 200 per cent pecuniary penalty for canceling tours.
The head of outbound travel at a different HCM City travel company said many of the company’s tours had only reached 70 per cent of required bookings, well short of bookings made in previous years, while Tran Thi Bao Thu, director of Marketing and Communications at Fiditour, said they were offering a 5-10 per cent discount to attract customers to inbound tours.
“We will launch a fifth discount for booking online that will available in 24 hours and offer a discount between VND500,000 to 5 million,” Thu said.
While tour products continue to sell below targets, private travellers are also finding it difficult to book accommodation in locations such as Vung Tau, Phan Thiet, Ba Ria, and Phu Quoc.
Tran Quoc Viet, director of VN Travel, said rooms had been booked previously by travel companies who earn commissions on reselling rooms to travel companies.
Many travel companies have admitted that this has made it difficult to sell inbound tours to Phu Quoc and Nha Trang, and left them holding hundreds of unsold air tickets.
Tran Van Long, general director of Viet Travel Company said his company was struggling to find customers for around 300 air tickets to Phu Quoc for the Tet period.
“If we can’t sell them in the next few days, we will absorb the loss of returning these tickets,” Long said.
Tran The Dung, deputy director of The He Tre (Young Generation) travel company, said although travel companies were offering several promotions for inbound tours, outbound tour prices had been less competitive.
“High air fares are a big reason for customers avoiding inbound tours,” she said.
Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, a representative of Ben Thanh Tourist agreed the number of outbound tourists had outnumbered inbound travellers also due to a lack of innovation in inbound tours.
Experts are predicting travel companies will ultimately dispose of air tickets and rooms at a low price before the upcoming Tet holiday.
Tet, the biggest, the most popular and awaited festival of the year in Vietnam has been arriving at the homes of Vietnamese. Tet colorizes all streets with peach and apricot blossom, puts smiles on every one’s face and warms up their heart with new hopes for a Lunar New Year.
Whenever taking part in Vietnamese village and temple festivals, you will have a chance to watch a traditional game – human chess (“cờ người”), which is the favourite to a great deal of Viet people
Human chess is a variant of chess, often played by people who take on the roles of the various chess pieces (king, knight, bishop and so on). This is typically done on an outdoor field, with the squares of the board marked out on the grass. A move resulting in a piece being taken from the board will cause a choreographed fight to be played out to determine whether the piece is actually taken. Human chess played in Vietnam follows the general rules of Chinese chess. The concept is recognizably
similar to Western chess, but with a different-sized board and different pieces, including cannons and guards, each of them marked with a distinct Chinese character.
In the game, there are 32 people in all. One side consists of 16 boys and the other of 16 girls. Each team wears a different colour. The chessboard is marked by paint on flat ground. Village festivals usually use the yard in front of a communal house or pagoda or a nearby field. Organisers select players plus a referee well in advance. All should be children of families with a good reputation. The referee and the two generals should come from wealthier families so they can treat their players to food. As the selection finishes, the referee convenes the 32 people, describes the costumes, and tells each person how to move as a chess piece.
Players may sit on chairs and wear hats if it is sunny. They either wear boards with the Chinese names of their pieces or carry sign poles with the characters. The generals wear traditional costumes. The two contestants who direct the pieces have their own seats outside the board. The atmosphere often become bustling with the human chess competition. In the early morning, many people gather and wait for the competition. There is often three drum-rolls signalling the start of the game. Two players in Vietnamese traditional dresses appeared, sitting on two high platforms behind chessmen. The first player starts the game by shouting and a chessman left the position to perform martial arts techniques before reaching another position on the chessboard. The second player’s turn, he also shouts and his chessman moves and performs beautiful skills of martial arts. They in turn play the game. If one of them lost his chessmen, these have to leave the chessboard. The spectators triumphantly cheer whenever there is
a nice performance, making chessmen try their best to show their skills. After nearly two hours, the human chess competition finishes. However, the spectators often do not want to go home, they would like the organising board to continue the game.
Tet holiday is coming soon and the human chess is often held on this meaningful occasion. Why don’t you participate in and enjoy the warm atmostphere? Surely that you will be attracted by the game’s quietude and delicacy, totally in contrast to some other games practiced at festivals.
