VietNamNet Bridge – Viking Travel Company said it is hard to maintain chartered flights between Macau and HCMC due to losses, especially for the services from HCMC to Macau as Vietnamese passport holders find it extremely difficult to get visas for entering Macau.

The chartered flights were launched nearly two months ago as a result of a joint effort of Macau’s Sun Star Travel Agency, Viking Travel Company in HCMC and Indochina Travel Service (ITS). The frequency is two flights per week in the initial time.

After one month and a half in operation, the number of tourists from Macau to HCMC has grown steadily but the seating occupancy of the flights from Vietnam has been very low with fewer than 20 passengers on each flight.

Strict and time-consuming visa requirements are the main reason why such flights have attracted a small number of Vietnamese tourists as it takes up to three weeks for Vietnamese passport holders to obtain visas for their visits to Macau. A lot of Vietnamese applicants, especially women and children, have been denied visas for entering Macau.

“We are seeking solutions to the problem. For a long-term operation, the seating capacity of flights from Macau to HCMC and vice versa should be at least 70-30 or 80-20,” said Tran Xuan Hung, director of Viking Travel Company.

Despite low seating capacity, Hung said the three companies manage to have such chartered flights in operation until the end of this year.

Hung noted that partners of the Macau-HCMC route are seeking approval of Macau’s authorities to provide guarantees for Vietnamese passengers so that they can get visas easily for their visits to Macau. As scheduled, Macau partners will come to Vietnam next week to further discuss the situation.

Like Viking, many travel firms in HCMC have voiced their outcry over difficulties in helping their customers to get visas for visiting Macau and other places including Hong Kong.

VNS