Prices of tours to Vietnam are less competitive than those to other regional countries, mainly due to high hotel room rents and airfares.

Rents of three-star hotel rooms in Vietnam are several dozens percent higher than those in Thailand, said Tran Xuan Ngoc, travel manager of the Vinh Hanh Service and Investment Company, on Tuesday.

Many hotels often increase room rents on an irregular basis, henoted, saying that most of big hotels in the capital city of Hanoi have increased their rents by 10-20 percent since the end of 2003.

The high rents are attributed to the small number of 4 or 5-star hotels in the country. High airfares also make contribution to high prices of tours to Vietnam.

Meanwhile, prices of tours to other regional countries are sharply declining, making the country face many difficulties in attracting foreign tourists.

Vietnam welcomed 1.39 million foreign arrivals, mainly from China, the United States, Japan and South Korea, in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 29.6 percent. It aims to receive 2.7-2.8 million international visitors this year, up 22.7-27.3 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2004)