Many hotels are fully booked, with some increasing their prices by 20%, and others even tripling their rates compared to regular days.

The grand finale of the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival 2024 (DIFF 2024), scheduled for the night of July 13, will feature a showdown between China and Finland. This highly anticipated event is expected to draw a large number of tourists to the city. Given the allure of the festival coinciding with the summer season, three to five-star hotels in Da Nang are experiencing a booking frenzy.

Quyet Thang, a tourist from Hanoi, shared that he had been searching for a hotel room for his family to watch the fireworks finale for ten days. He scoured online booking platforms and contacted numerous hotels around the Han River and city center with views of the fireworks display, but all were fully booked for July 13.

"A five-star hotel near Thuan Phuoc Bridge, which usually charges 1.6-1.7 million VND per night, raised its price to 8-9 million VND per room for the fireworks finale. Initially hesitant due to the high price, I called back the next day, only to find that the rooms were already sold out. Many hotels not only increased room rates but also charged 250,000 VND per person for rooftop fireworks viewing for guests," he said.

Unable to book a room in the city center, Thang opted for a beachfront hotel. However, these hotels were also nearly fully booked due to the spike in tourists for the fireworks festival.

"After much difficulty, I managed to book a hotel room. Fortunately, there were still rooms available. Our family decided to stay a bit farther away and take a taxi to the city center to watch the fireworks from a spot near the Han River Bridge," Thang explained.

Ms. My Trinh, Director of Bien Vang Hotel on Pham Van Dong Street, stated that the hotel has been fully booked for the fireworks finale on July 13 for several months.

"Because our hotel offers views of the fireworks, rooms are nearly always fully booked on competition nights, with the finale being booked well in advance. Most of our guests are regulars, so to encourage repeat visits, we only increased our rates by 20% compared to regular days, with room rates ranging from 600,000 to 700,000 VND per night," Trinh said.

At Muong Thanh Luxury Da Nang Hotel on Vo Nguyen Giap Street, Executive Director Ngo Thi Huong confirmed that the hotel was fully booked from July 12 to 14, with room rates averaging 1.6-1.7 million VND per night. This year, the hotel did not increase prices or add surcharges for the fireworks festival to attract and stimulate domestic tourism.

The Awaken Danang Hotel on Vo Nguyen Giap Street also reported that nearly 300 rooms were booked for the fireworks finale on July 13.

Even at Da Nang Mikazuki Japanese Resorts & Spa on Nguyen Tat Thanh Street, located relatively far from the city center, the booking rate for this weekend exceeded 90%, with room rates during peak times increasing by approximately 20% compared to regular days.

Discussing the three to four-fold increase in hotel prices, the owner of a hotel on Pham Van Dong Street admitted that last-minute bookings would make it challenging for guests to find rooms, forcing them to accept higher prices. "Recently, due to a lack of bookings from guests, I had to contact a neighboring hotel. The three-star hotel, which usually charges 450,000-500,000 VND, now quoted 1.4 million VND, tripling its regular price, which surprised even me," he said.

According to Nguyen Thi Hoai An, Deputy Director of Da Nang's Department of Tourism, during the three nights of the DIFF 2024, the total number of guests served by accommodation establishments reached over 198,000, an 11.7% increase compared to DIFF 2023.

Of these, international visitors exceeded 80,000 (a 29.6% increase), while domestic visitors exceeded 117,000 (a slight 2.1% increase). The overall room occupancy rate across the city ranged from 70% to 75%. The increase in flight frequencies to Da Nang and promotional policies in the railway sector have contributed to the rising number of visitors to the city. Notably, during DIFF 2024, hotels reported an influx of road travelers from neighboring provinces.

Dieu Thuy