Reasons why rail travel is increasingly attracting tourists

In the first 3 months of the year, the railway industry continuously changed to attract tourists such as opening the Hue – Da Nang tourist train route “connecting the heritage of the Central region”, exploiting the high quality Saigon – Da Nang train route. . High travel demand and reasonable ticket prices helped Hanoi and Saigon Railways both report first-quarter profits three times higher than planned. A representative of Vietnam Railway Corporation said that not only on holidays, train passengers have increased rapidly in recent times, with many people choosing it for domestic trips.

Mr. Le Anh Tuan, Director of Saigon Railway Transport Branch, of Saigon Railway Transport Joint Stock Company, said the total number of tickets the company opened for sale during this year’s holiday is about 55,000 for both departure and return. , the number of customers is similar to last year, but the difference this year is that as soon as it opened for sale, it sold out early.

Hanoi Railway Transport Joint Stock Company said that during the past holiday, it provided about 140,000 tickets, including North – South trains and short trips to localities. This unit also runs 36 additional trains on routes with great demand, such as from Hanoi to Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa, Vinh, Dong Hoi, Hai Phong, of which the most are the Hanoi – Vinh and Hanoi routes. – Hai Phong.

Mr. Tran Tuong Huy, Deputy Director of the Institute of Social Tourism Research, assessed that after 10 years of equitization, the railway industry has made strong changes. In addition to maintaining passenger and cargo transport services, railway companies across the country also develop many products for tourism, following the rail tourism trends of countries around the world.

Rail travel is welcomed by both domestic and international tourists. In 2020, UK-based travel consulting company Roughguides voted the Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City train trip as one of the most scenic rail journeys in Asia, especially the Hue – Ho Chi Minh City route. Da Nang via Lang Co Bay.

Lonely Planet once voted the Thong Nhat train into the list of the most beautiful train routes in the world. This travel magazine reviews the trans-Vietnam train route passing through cities with a rich history and through beautiful coastal roads.

Mr. Huy pointed out 3 reasons why rail travel is increasingly attracting tourists. The first factor is that the railway industry continuously launches new products, refurbishes train carriages, innovates service methods, and provides 5-star services and amenities on trains such as the Nha Trang – Quy Nhon, Ho Chi Minh City route. HCM – Nha Trang and most recently Saigon – Da Nang. Previously, traveling by train was simply sitting in a carriage as a means of transport. Railway tourism products are different in that they bring many experiences to tourists such as serving local specialties, performing arts on the train, and investing in new interiors.

Second reason, railways do not have traffic jams like roads. The routes depart on time, without cramming passengers.

Third is reasonable cost. Railways can solve the travel needs of tourists when air tickets increase, especially during the April 30 holiday. According to Mr. Huy, tourists from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City going to the Central provinces if they choose to travel by night train will optimize costs and entertainment time. Travel time by train is longer than by plane but the cost is cheaper. According to the survey, the average price of a Saigon – Da Nang train ticket in May ranges from 589,000 to one million VND each way, traveling in 18 hours. Airfare for this route ranges from 1.2 to 2.5 million VND each way, traveling in 1.5 hours.

For trips over 8 hours, visitors can book overnight tickets, stay on the train, reduce the cost of one night of hotel accommodation, and spend all their time sightseeing during the day.

Experts say that rail travel will continue to be a trend chosen by many people during summer vacation, because domestic airfare prices will remain high.

The Da Nang Department of Tourism estimates that one of the factors helping the city increase the number of holiday visitors by nearly 12% is visitors arriving by train, an increase of 60% over the same period. Mr. Thi Quoc Duy, Director of retail center of BenThanhTourist company, said that the obvious change in the domestic tourism market this summer is the rise of train travel. The tour to experience the 5-star train line from Hue to Da Nang has just been put into operation and has a high number of interested visitors.

Before 2019, domestic flight travel products had a clear difference compared to train tours when 80% of tourists chose to fly, 20% chose to travel by train or road to save time. “But this year, the proportion of customers choosing to experience the train accounts for 40-45%,” Mr. Duy said.

Deputy Director of the Institute of Social Tourism Research said that rail tourism in Vietnam “bloomed late” because the infrastructure was still limited. The current positive results are a result of the continuous efforts of the entire industry to change. Vietnam Railways still has to develop transport in parallel and cannot depend entirely on tourism.

According to Mr. Huy, in order for train tourism in Vietnam to develop, it is necessary to expand more online sales channels to make it easier for self-sufficient tourists to access, because this is currently a growing group of tourists in the domestic market. land. The railway industry needs to connect with hotels and tourist service establishments to sell combos. “Aviation has been in business for a long time, but railways are in a fragmented stage,” Mr. Huy said.