On the morning of March 10 (ie, the 22nd day of the first lunar month), the main festival day of the Ky Cung - Ta Phu Festival, tens of thousands of people and tourists flocked to Lang Son city to participate in traditional rituals.
The sudden increase in the number of visitors has caused many hotels and guesthouses in the central area to become fully booked, causing many tourists to spend hours looking for accommodation.
Recorded by reporters on the morning of March 10th in the area around Ky Cung Temple, Ta Phu Temple and central streets, the number of tourists flocking in is increasing. Many accommodation establishments hung signs "out of rooms" right from the afternoon of March 9th (ie, January 21st).
Mr. Nguyen Van Hai (a tourist from Hanoi) said that his family went to Lang Son the night before to be able to attend the festival in time, but finding a room was not easy at all.
“We drove for nearly two hours around the central area, asked about 6-7 motels, but everywhere said rooms were out. In the end, we had to ask acquaintances to introduce us to find accommodation in areas far from the center in the Dong Dang area,” Mr. Hai shared.
Similarly, Ms. Le Thi Lan (a tourist from Bac Giang) said that her group of friends had to walk and ask each motel around the Ky Lua market area.
Some places still have rooms but the price is much higher than usual. In the end, we agreed to rent rooms in the suburbs and then move to the center to watch the festival," Ms. Lan said.
According to many accommodation establishment owners in Lang Son city, the overcrowding situation has been going on for several days before the main festival due to the sharp increase in pilgrims and tourists.
In fact, the "room shortage" situation was predicted early.
About two months before the Ky Cung - Ta Phu Festival took place, many hotels and guesthouses in the city center area had almost fully booked rooms, especially establishments near Ky Cung Temple, Ta Phu Temple and Dong Kinh Market area.
According to reporters' findings, on online booking platforms such as Booking.com or Traveloka, during the period from March 9 to March 15 (ie from January 21 to 27 of the lunar calendar - the festival time), there are almost no empty rooms left in the mid-range hotel segment.
The remaining options are mainly high-end hotels such as Tru by Hilton Lang Son City Centre with prices of over 2 million VND/room/night, or Four Points by Sheraton Lang Son with prices of about 9.2 million VND/room/night.
According to statistics, the Ky Cung - Ta Phu festival in 2025 attracted about 820,600 visitors, an increase of nearly 300,000 visitors compared to 2024.
Total revenue from service activities reached approximately 985 billion VND.
Talking to reporters, Ms. Truong Vi Ha - Deputy Head of the Department of Tourism and Sports Management of Lang Son province said that in recent years the accommodation establishment system in the province has been expanded, bringing the total number to more than 300 establishments with over 4,000 rooms.
However, due to the number of tourists gathering for a short period of time during the festival, the situation of full rooms in the city center still often occurs during peak days.
