Tour operator struggles to arrange trip for 1,000 tourists to Bali
Having won a contract to organize a trip for 1,013 tourists to Indonesia’s Bali, Ben Thanh Tourist has ended up in booking tickets from six airlines after a tough struggle to secure enough air tickets for the group.
Ta Thi Cam Vinh, manager of the outbound section of Ben Thanh Tourist, told the Daily that her company won the huge contract to arrange a Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Event (MICE) tour for a company in Vietnam and that the customers wanted to depart on the same day. But there are not enough tickets so they have to take connecting flights to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
The customers are scheduled to depart on April 15, 18 and 21 on flights of Vietnam Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Air Asia, Malindo Air and Tiger Airways. They will be accommodated in four to five-star hotels after arriving in Bali.
“This is our biggest MICE tour to Bali. It is hard to book enough tickets as there are few flights between Vietnam and Bali,” Vinh said.
Formerly, Ben Thanh Tourist has organized similar tours to Japan and Korea. For long-haul and expensive destinations such as Europe, the company’s biggest contract was to serve 200 customers.
Compared to other tourism sectors’ unstable growth, MICE tourism to foreign countries has seen steady growth in recent years. In 2016, this sector gained a year-on-year rise of 30%.
The destinations vary over time but customers mainly choose Asian destinations.