Many Vietnamese tourists are choosing to visit the US instead of Europe after the dong weakened against the euro but strengthened against the dollar.

Tran Thuy Dung, deputy director of Carnival Travel agency, says though it is now the high tourist season in Europe, with a number of spring festivals taking place there, the number of clients booking tours to the continent has been low.

Clients are carefully considering whether to travel to Europe since the prices are set in euro instead of the dollar.

The European currency has strengthened from VND23,600 at the beginning of the year to VND24,800 recently.

With the greenback falling well below VND16,000, US tours are becoming very popular. The HCM City-based Hoan My travel agency has stopped bookings for tours departing in April despite doubling capacity by operating four instead of two monthly tours.

According to Hoan My, 85 per cent of people booking tours to the US combine travelling with visiting relatives there.

The company’s tour to the US west coast is priced at US$2,250 and to the east coast $2,500.