Hanoi (VNA) - Two Vietnamese destinations, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, are topping the search trends among Thai tourists during the long National Labour Day and Coronation Day holiday.

Data from the online booking platform Agoda shows that Ho Chi Minh City recorded the highest growth in searches from Thailand, reaching 134%, followed by Da Nang with a 58% increase. Other destinations such as Hong Kong (China) saw more modest growth.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said that although domestic travel demand during the May 1–4 holiday is expected to decline due to rising living and energy costs, outbound travel plans of Thai residents remain largely unchanged. This factor has helped boost searches for international destinations, with Vietnam emerging as a top choice.

Thapanee Kiatphaibool, TAT Governor, said pressure from rising energy prices and living costs had made Thais more cautious about spending and led them to adjust their travel behaviour, with a greater focus on budgets, especially after the travel and spending during the Songkran festival.

TAT therefore assessed that this year’s holiday would see 2.83 million Thai visitor-trips, generate about 10.05 billion THB in circulating revenue and record average accommodation occupancy of 64%, with Thai tourists accounting for 39% of average occupancy.

For “destinations” popular during this long holiday, the top five main cities with the highest numbers of Thai visitors are Kanchanaburi, Chon Buri, Bangkok, Nakhon Ratchasima and Chachoengsao.

The Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT)’s survey found 16-28% of Thais planned to travel during the National Labour Day holiday. Most chose to travel in their own province or nearby provinces rather than across regions, with 12-20% taking day trips in their own province or nearby provinces and 2-6% travelling to nearby provinces with an overnight stay, while cross-region travel accounted for only 2%./.