In the days leading up to the Lunar New Year, ferry and high-speed train routes to and from Phu Quoc (An Giang) simultaneously fell into a ticket outage situation, many trips increased but were still fully booked. The demand for returning home, tourism and resorts increased sharply, pushing the number of passengers transported to the highest level of the year.
Recorded at a Phu Quoc train ticket office on February 14th (December 27th of the lunar calendar), the number of customers coming to buy tickets to return to their hometown for Tet increased sharply. In front of the transaction counter, many people patiently waited to buy tickets, but on the system, most time slots were displayed as fully booked. Staff continuously guided customers to switch to another flight or register for a waiting list.
Although the number of passengers increased sharply, there was no situation of price increases or ticket speculation. However, due to the large number of passengers, many passengers were forced to adjust their schedules, postpone them to later hours or to the next day.
Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Phu - owner of Ngoc Phu ticket office - said: "This year's Tet, the number of customers is quite large, starting from 1 week ago, the number of tickets has increased beyond expectations. Around the 26th, 27th of Tet (December 26th, 27th of the lunar calendar), all ferry routes are full. Not to mention the number of workers serving the APEC project, thousands of people, so both the round-trip and the return trip after Tet are also full.
Mr. Duong Hoang Tam (resident of Vinh Long province) shared: "I have never seen customers buy tickets as crowded as this year, I have only encountered this case before, buying tickets is very difficult. My wife and children have to buy waiting tickets to get tickets to go home, the ticket price is in accordance with regulations with full receipts, there is no list or price increase, there is no problem at all.
At Phu Quoc wharf, the number of passengers going to and from the island increased sharply. Ferries and speedboats continuously dock, drop off passengers and quickly welcome new passengers leaving the island, streams of people continuously boarding and disembarking, creating a bustling atmosphere of the peak season at the end of the year.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong - a tourist from Ho Chi Minh City - said: "This is the first time my whole family has gone to Phu Quoc and seen so many visitors, I was quite surprised. I thought it would be deserted at the end of the year, but I didn't expect it to be so crowded. I booked in advance, so overall there are no problems, the train runs on time, serves thoughtfully".
To meet the increasing travel demand of passengers, shipping lines have simultaneously increased trips, at times operating nearly double compared to normal days, and at the same time adjusted schedules flexibly to serve the maximum number of passengers.
Mr. Vu Truong Giang - Captain of Phu Quoc Express ship - said: "Because there are so many passengers, our ship has increased its operating capacity to every operating time frame in a day to serve the best way to pick up and drop off people the fastest and best. On weekdays, we operate about 6 or 7 trips/day, during Tet, we increase the ship to operate at 200% capacity.
Phu Quoc is a locality selected to host the APEC 2027 Summit, many infrastructure projects and projects on the island are being deployed simultaneously, attracting a large number of engineers and workers to come to the island to work, leading to a sharp increase in travel demand. Faced with this reality, functional sectors strengthen propaganda, requesting transport units and ticket sales points to strictly implement price listing, absolutely not speculating, not increasing prices against regulations, in order to ensure rights and create favorable conditions for people and tourists to travel to and from the island safely and smoothly.
