Although package tours to China have risen by 40% this year, travel agencies are now seeing many of those tours cancelled because of the tension in the East Sea between China and Vietnam.

A tourist site in China. Many Vietnamese people have cancelled their tours to China or asked for another destination recently due to the tension in the East Sea between China and Vietnam.

An anonymous executive of a HCM City-based travel firm said many customers late last week cancelled their tours to China or asked for another destination.

Many of them say that they "do not want to travel to China at this time," he added.

Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted Nguyen Minh Man, deputy director of Vietravel's marketing and communication department, as saying that many customers changed bookings to destinations like Japan and the Republic of Korea.

Some Vietnamese who decided to visit Hong Kong instead of mainland China were even reluctant to go to the Consulate General of China in HCM City to apply for a visa, Man said.

Tran Van Long, general director of Viet Travel Company, said the number of customers who bought tours to China dropped significantly during the last several days.

Most travel companies that operate outbound tours said that after the incident in which China cut the cable of a Vietnamese vessel in Vietnam’s waters two years ago, the number of clients buying tours to China (their key market), fell sharply.

Do Viet Hong, manager of TST Tourist Company, said five groups cancelled their tours to China in the last several days.

"This is not the first time I have seen many cancellations of tours to China. The same situation happened two years ago when there was a sea dispute between China and Vietnam," she added.

In the last several days, however, some airlines that operate flights from Vietnam to China have reported a high number of "no shows" at airport check-ins.

Le Truong Giang, spokesperson of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, said "the situation will affect the number of customers from HCM City and Hanoi to cities in China in which Vietnam Airlines operates flights."

The dispute between China and Vietnam has worsened in recent days as China has illegally set up a drilling oil rig on the continental shelf of Vietnam, which has raised concerns among countries in the region.