Originally Posted by
tkdash421
I have not seen 50% "tourist" inflation.
It may not be an official figure (and perhaps a bit of an exaggeration on my part) but many tourist services in Hanoi are seeing ridiculous price increases :
1) Hotel room rates rose by something like 70%-80% last year (official figure)
2) Airport taxi rate rose by 50% within 5-6 months (meter fare remains the same)
3) Halong cruises increased by 20%-40% earlier this year.
4) My restaurant bill (same restaurant) seems to have gone up by 20-30% within 3 months.
And I cant even afford to visit Saigon now with the Sheraton hitting USD300/night, so even if prices at pho24 remains the same it wouldnt do any good for me.
Very, very unlikely Vietnam will be getting cheaper for tourists in the near future. Already cancelled a trip couple of weeks ago and went to Bangkok instead, so much better value.