At the end of February, Bamboo Airways announced the early termination of the lease contract for 3 Embraer E190 aircraft after the winter schedule ends at the end of March. Therefore, the airline will stop operating all direct routes from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Con Dao.
To ensure the supply chain, travel firms said they will continue to transport passengers to Con Dao by air through flights from northern provinces to Ho Chi Minh City or Can Tho via Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Bamboo Airways, and then connecting with Vietnam Airlines to Con Dao.
Vietnam Airlines increases frequency of Ho Chi Minh City – Con Dao route.
Recently, Vietnam Airlines announced that it will significantly increase the frequency of flights to Con Dao from mid-March to meet the increasing travel demand of passengers.
In addition, tourists can consider traveling to Con Dao by sea as there are currently several operators running routes to Con Dao with departures from southern provinces. The travel time will range from 2.5-4 hours, with ticket prices depending on the fare class, age group, disabled people, and departure time of the week.
Specifically, at Tran De port (Soc Trang province), the train routes to Con Dao run from 8am to 11am, with ticket prices ranging from 280,000-500,000 VND/person. In the period from 8am to 11:30am, the ticket price for travel from Cau Da Port (Vung Tau City) is 1.2 million VND.
High-speed boats departing from Ninh Kieu port (Can Tho City) from 7 am to 11 am have ticket prices ranging from 480,000 – 1.2 million VND depending on the operator. It is expected that in March, there will be additional high-speed boat services departing from Nha Be port (Ho Chi Minh City) to Con Dao.
Mr. Bui Thanh Tu – Director of Best Price travel firm – said that in the past, the price of round-trip plane tickets to Con Dao from Hanoi was about 7 million VND. But since April, the total cost of round-trip travel may increase by about 10-20%. In addition, spending more time traveling makes passengers more tired.
According to Mr. Tu, when there is no longer a flight from Hanoi, Con Dao has lost nearly 50% of its passengers, reducing the demand will cause excess supply. This affects the supply of services such as restaurants and transportation in Con Dao.
Mr. Trung – residing in Long Bien district – will soon have a trip to Con Dao in April – shared: “Every year I still go to Con Dao on a 3-day 2-night tour. But this year we have to connect flights, I only have 1 day to enjoy the vacation, the remaining 2 days mostly spent on traveling. Also because of the difficulties in traveling, the family members participating in this trip are also limited”.
Con Dao is located offshore in the South Central Coast, belonging to Ba Ria – Vung Tau province. Before 1975, the archipelago was known as the largest prison and exile place in Indochina. Nowadays, the district has become a tourist attraction and also attracts visitors with spiritual factors.
It used to be a popular destination for people in the north. Statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam show that the percentage of people from the northern region visiting Con Dao (Ba Ria – Vung Tau) reaches 90%.
