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 suspend all direct flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Con Dao.
To ensure the supply chain, travel companies said they will continue to transport passengers to Con Dao by air via flights from northern provinces to Ho Chi Minh City or Can Tho through Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Bamboo Airways, and then connect with Vietnam Airlines to Con Dao.
Vietnam Airlines increases frequency of flights on the Ho Chi Minh City – Con Dao route.
Recently, Vietnam Airlines announced that it will significantly increase the frequency of flights to Con Dao from the middle of March to meet the increasing travel demand of passengers.
In addition, tourists can consider visiting Con Dao by sea as there are currently many operators of Con Dao routes with departures from southern provinces. Travel time will range from 2.5-4 hours, with ticket prices depending on ticket class, age, disability status, and departure time within the week.
Specifically, at Tran De Pier (Soc Trang province), the trains to Con Dao run from 8am to 11am, with ticket prices ranging from 280,000 to 500,000 VND per person. Between 8am and 11:30am, ticket prices for travel from Cau Da Port (Vung Tau City) range from 1.2 million VND.
High-speed boats departing from Ninh Kieu Wharf (Can Tho City) from 7am to 11am have ticket prices ranging from 480,000 to 1.2 million VND depending on the operator. It is expected that in March, there will be additional high-speed boat trips departing from Nha Be Port (Ho Chi Minh City) to Con Dao.
Mr. Bui Thanh Tu, Director of the travel company Best Price, said that in the past, the round-trip airfare to Con Dao from Hanoi was around 7 million VND. But from April, the total cost of 2 round-trip tickets may increase by about 10-20%. In addition, spending a lot of 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, and the reduced demand will cause excess supply. This affects the supply of services such as restaurants and transportation in Con Dao.
Mr. Trung – living in Long Bien district, planning a trip to Con Dao in April – shared: “Every year I still go to Con Dao for a 3-day-2-night tour. But this year, I have to have connecting flights, so I only have 1 day to enjoy the vacation, the remaining 2 days are mostly spent on traveling. Also because of the difficulty of traveling, family members joining this trip are also limited.”
Con Dao is located off the coast of the southern region, belonging to Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. Before 1975, the archipelago was known as the largest prison and exile site in Indochina. Nowadays, the island district has become a scenic tourist destination, attracting visitors with spiritual factors as well.
This place is traditionally preferred by people from the northern region. Statistics from the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam show that the proportion of people from the northern region visiting Con Dao (Ba Ria – Vung Tau) is up to 90%.
