Lunar new year calendar

By staff writers – Translated by Kim Khanh

A once desolate field in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam has been given a facelift by 30-year-old Nguyen Van Ly.

The now stunning field in Thach Khe Commune, about five kilometers from Ha Tinh City, is where visitors stroll through the vibrant cosmos flowers as they snap photos, especially to commemorate the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday which fell on February 12.

The field is the result of Ly’s hard work and desire to start a sustainable business.

Most of the visitors are surprised when they hear that the now blooming field was once a desolate, dry, abandoned strip of land.

According to Ly, about two months before Tet, he began planting the flowers and building dressing rooms for visitors to change outfits for photos.

The field also features notice boards with youthful messages and an area in the middle of the field where visitors can take shelter from the rain or sun.

“The land was once used to plant watermelon but it was abandoned because the owner thought it couldn’t turn a profit,” Ly shared.

“We decided to rent it at a cost equivalent to their watermelon sales in order to plant cosmos.

“We’ve so far spent about VND60 million [US$2,600] on this lot.”

The field of flowers hit peak blooms timely during the Tet holiday and has attracted large crowds of visitors ever since. On peak days, up to four hundred people visit the garden.

At first, visitors could enter free, but from February 15, Ly began charging an admission fee of VND30,000 ($1.30), except senior citizens and children.

The fee is used for watering and taking care of the flowers.

“I hope to be able to expand the field of flowers and then collaborate with local farmers to provide tourism services,” Ly shared.

“I can’t imagine how many people have come to visit my garden!”

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These days Sao Viet Company’s from Hanoi to Lao Cai Province on the China border carry only 5-10 passengers per trip.

Since the Covid reemerged in late January people who had booked tickets have been canceling them en masse, Do Van Bang, the company director, said.

Sao Viet has reduced its services by half to around 20 a day, but still gets few passengers.

“We hoped for an increase in the number of passengers during the peak Lunar New Year (Tet) season (in February), but all hopes were dashed by the latest outbreak,” Bang said.

“We are facing increasing losses, and the pressure to pay off debts after two consecutive years of suffering due to Covid-19 made me want to sell all my buses but no one dares buy at this time.”

Other transport companies face the same dilemma.

Dat Cang Transport and Service Joint Stock Company of Hai Phong City has 65 buses plying on the route to Hanoi.

Though it has cut down the number of trips by 80 percent, some buses still carry only two or three passengers, Khuc Huu Thanh, its director, said, adding if the situation lasts much longer, the company has to suspend operations.

Transport firms said they had managed to hold on last year despite the pandemic thanks to Tet revenues.

But this year Tet revenues took a huge hit due to the travel restrictions, lockdowns and quarantine requirements, and many transport companies have been unable to cope.

Nguyen Cong Hung, vice chairman of the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association, said the revenues of many transport firms are down 70 percent.

The association plans to ask the government for a 50 percent cut in taxes and delaying repayment of debts.

Since January 28, there have been 827 cases of Covid in 13 localities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Reports of Bamboo Airways, a three-year-old aviation firm, operating more flights between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City than veteran air carrier Vietnam Airlines during Vietnam’s busiest travel week have shocked travel experts from across the country.

According to flight data, Vietnam Airlines made just 113 trips between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City during the one-week span from February 8 to 14, which coincided with the 2021 Lunar New Year holiday.

Comparatively, Bamboo Airways made 130 trips on the same route.

Flights between Vietnam’s two largest cities are considered critical to airline success given consistent demand and high profits.

Still, more flights do not necessarily mean more success.

More data related to how many seats were sold aboard each flight and how each carrier fared on its other routes is needed in order to truly judge who came out on top during the holiday season.

What the numbers do show, however, is the intensifying competition between Vietnam’s homegrown airlines, particularly as COVID-19 continues to keep thousands of passengers grounded.

According to a report on Vietnam’s aviation industry released in January, domestic airlines collectively operated 19,295 flights, with Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet each accounting for 6,000-7,000 departures, or twice as many as Bamboo Airways’.

Meanwhile, three-year-old Bamboo Airways seems to be gradually winning passengers’ hearts thanks to its high service quality.

As international operations remain in hibernation, the country’s six carriers – Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, Bamboo Airways, Pacific Airlines, Vietravel Airlines, and VASCO – are each scrambling for ways to convince travelers that they offer the best product, including setting prices as low as VND85,460 ($3.7) for the Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City route.

Customers’ gain

Similar to Vietjet’s recent success, the surge of customers flocking to Bamboo Airways reflects the significant role played by private airlines in Vietnam in an industrial landscape long dominated by national carrier Vietnam Airlines.

Not only beaten by Vietjet in the domestic flight category, Vietnam Airlines and its subsidiary VASCO are also facing tough competition from Bamboo Airways on the Ho Chi Minh City – Con Dao or Rach Gia – Ca Mau routes.

Under the shadow of the current COVID-19 crisis, Vietnam Airlines is the only domestic carrier to benefit from the government’s bailout package after it reported a VND14 trillion ($610 million) loss in 2020.

Meanwhile, Vietjet and Bamboo are pulling themselves by the bootstraps to negotiate debt rescheduling and the sale of assets, which in turn have helped them post profits of VND70 billion ($3 million) and VND400 billion ($17.4 million), respectively, in 2020.

According to experts, Bamboo’s success over Vietnam Airlines on one route during one week cannot be used to reflect the entire industry, considering the aviation sector tends to reward those who achieve optimal cost management, sound ticket pricing, and decent customer service over an extended period of time.

During the current travel slump, experts recommended that the government maintain fair competition in terms of policy and bailout programs in order to ensure customers’ gain and avoid reinstating a monopoly in aviation.

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On November 28, 1959, President Ho wrote an article in the Nhan dan (People) newspaper stressing the significance of tree planting for each person, each family, and the entire nation. tree planting festival was held in the spring of 1960, following the late leader’s teachings, authorities and sectors from the central to grassroots levels, along with people nationwide, have joined hands in planting trees whenever a new year arrives. tree planting festival and stepping up forest protection and development at the beginning of 2021. Vietnam is to plant 1 billion trees from now to 2025 , including about 182 million this year./.