Hotels and rental car agencies in popular tourist destinations in Vietnam are making the most of the April 30 and May 1 public holidays, charging up to triple normal rates, Sai Gon Tiep Thi (Sai Gon Marketing) newspaper reported.

This year’s public holidays, which create a four-day break for most employees, have encouraged more people to book mini-breaks despite the economic downturn.

All of the 700 hotel rooms in the Central Highlands resort city of Dalat are fully booked for the upcoming holiday, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Some Dalat hotels are charging triple the normal rate for the long weekend. Double rooms were offered for VND400,000 to VND800,000 (US$22-$45) per night, with luxury hotels charging as much as $1,000 a night for their best rooms.

Hotels in the seaside destinations of Nha Trang and Phan Thiet offered rooms for double the normal rates, while hire car companies inflated their prices by 30 percent for the long weekend, according to Tran Dang Minh Uyen, deputy director of domestic travel firm Lua Viet Travel Co.

Domestic tour companies had no choice but to pass on the higher prices, Uyen said. Most package tours for the long weekend were sold for 20 percent more than the usual price, she said.

“This is because of the Vietnamese business practice of raising prices in peak periods,” said Tu Quy Thanh, director of domestic tour operator Lien Bang Travelink. “Travel companies are like factories, if the prices of the materials don’t decrease, they cannot reduce the price of their products.”

However, hotel room rates did not increase in northwestern Dien Bien Province, where all 900 hotel rooms are fully booked for the public holiday long weekend, according to the province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The popular destination is expected to receive even more visitors this year after national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines announced half price airfares for war veterans and heroic mothers, women who lost family members during the last two wars.

The discounts are on offer for travel until October 31 from Hanoi to Dien Bien to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the May 7 Dien Bien victory over the French.

Provincial authorities plan to convert a number of local facilities, including private households and dorms, into temporary accommodation to cater for the tourists who come to town for the anniversary celebrations.

Since the beginning of this year, Dien Bien has welcomed 98,000 visitors, 21,000 of whom are from outside the country, an increase of 73 percent over the same period last year.