{
  "$schema": "https://schema.org/Dataset",
  "name": "The Tet Effect 2027",
  "description": "A category-by-category record of what Tet Nguyen Dan does to travel in Vietnam — domestic and international air fares, rail and coach availability, hotel rates split by segment, restaurant, market, museum, bank and ATM closures, ride-hailing supply, tour operations and street traffic — with the normal state, the Tet state, the direction and size of the change, the affected window relative to Tet day, and a source for every row. Tet 2027 (Dinh Mui, the Year of the Goat) falls on Saturday 6 February 2027. Magnitudes are typical observed ranges drawn mainly from the documented Tet 2025 and Tet 2026 holidays, not forecasts.",
  "publisher": "Day Trips Vietnam",
  "publisher_url": "https://daytripsvietnam.com",
  "source_url": "https://daytripsvietnam.com/guides/vietnam-tet-effect-2027/",
  "methodology_url": "https://daytripsvietnam.com/guides/vietnam-tet-effect-2027/#methodology",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0",
  "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "temporal_coverage": "2027 (Tet Dinh Mui), with observed magnitudes drawn from Tet 2023, 2025 and 2026",
  "spatial_coverage": "Vietnam (nationwide, with city and resort segments distinguished)",
  "updated": "2026-08-28",
  "version": "2027.1",
  "suggested_citation": "Day Trips Vietnam, \"The Tet Effect 2027: What Lunar New Year Does to Vietnam Travel\" (August 2026), https://daytripsvietnam.com/guides/vietnam-tet-effect-2027/",
  "tet_2027": {
    "lunar_new_year_day": "2027-02-06",
    "day_of_week": "Saturday",
    "lunar_year_name": "Dinh Mui",
    "zodiac_animal": "Goat (Mui)",
    "new_years_eve_giao_thua": "2027-02-05",
    "eve_lunar_date": "29 thang Chap — the twelfth lunar month has 29 days in this cycle, so there is no 30 Tet in 2027",
    "kitchen_gods_ong_cong_ong_tao": "2027-01-30",
    "mung_1_to_mung_7": "2027-02-06 to 2027-02-12",
    "first_full_moon_ram_thang_gieng": "2027-02-20",
    "official_public_holiday": "Not announced as of 2026-08-28. Article 112 of the 2019 Labour Code sets a statutory five-day Tet break; recent practice has been to extend it with substitute days (nine days for both Tet 2025 and Tet 2026). The Tet 2026 schedule was approved by the Prime Minister on 13 October 2025 and notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 16 October 2025, so expect the 2027 decision around October 2026.",
    "expected_window_unconfirmed": "A statutory core of Friday 5 February to Tuesday 9 February 2027, plausibly stretched to a run ending Sunday 14 February if substitute days are added. Do not book against this until the official decision is published.",
    "date_sources": [
      "https://thuvienphapluat.vn/hoi-dap-phap-luat/lich-van-nien-2027--lich-am-2027--lich-duong-2027-chi-tiet-day-du-365-ngay-tuong-ung-am-va-duong-138057531.html",
      "https://muctim.tuoitre.vn/con-bao-nhieu-ngay-nua-den-tet-dinh-mui-2027-101260218100410746.htm",
      "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%E1%BA%BFt",
      "https://ttbc-hcm.gov.vn/bo-noi-vu-thong-bao-chi-tiet-lich-nghi-tet-nguyen-dan-2026-1019793.html"
    ]
  },
  "headline": {
    "biggest_price_shock": "Domestic air fares on the three to five days before Tet day. Cheap fare buckets vanish and remaining seats run roughly 2-3x the off-peak level — Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh reached about 5 million VND one way on peak dates in 2026, against a typical 1.5-2.5 million.",
    "tightest_supply": "North-south rail. Tickets for Tet 2026 went on sale five months ahead (20 September 2025) and peak-day southern departures were sold out well before the holiday.",
    "arrive_before_or_after_rule": "For Tet 2027, be in position by Tuesday 2 February (four days before Tet day) or arrive from Wednesday 10 February (mung 5) onward. Avoid moving between cities on 3-5 February and again on 9-11 February.",
    "least_affected": "Staffed beach and mountain resorts — Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Da Nang beachfront, Sapa, Da Lat. They are expensive and full, but fully operational.",
    "most_affected": "Small-town and rural Vietnam — Ha Giang, Phong Nha, Mai Chau, Ninh Binh villages, Mekong Delta towns — where the businesses that serve travellers are family-run and the family stops working.",
    "counterintuitive_finding": "Cities do not sell out. National accommodation occupancy over the nine-day Tet 2026 holiday was about 55-60 percent, and Hanoi averaged 66.8 percent, while Phu Quoc ran at about 95 percent and Sapa 90-95 percent. Urban room rates are among the softest of the year even as resort rates rise 30-50 percent.",
    "not_a_low_season": "Tet is peak domestic tourism, not a lull. Vietnam served an estimated 14 million visitors over the nine-day Tet 2026 holiday, up 12 percent year on year."
  },
  "methodology": {
    "collection_window": "2026-07/2026-08",
    "what_a_row_measures": "One traveller-facing category of Vietnamese travel infrastructure or service. Each row records the ordinary, non-holiday state; the state during the Tet window; the direction of the change from a traveller's point of view; a typical magnitude; the affected window expressed relative to Tet day; and at least one source.",
    "direction_values": {
      "up": "Price rises or the burden on the traveller increases",
      "down": "Price falls, or supply falls (see magnitude for which)",
      "closed": "The service stops entirely for a defined number of days",
      "mixed": "The effect splits by segment or by location and the row note explains the split",
      "better_for_travellers": "The change is an improvement from a visitor's point of view"
    },
    "magnitude_basis": "Typical observed ranges from Vietnamese and English-language reporting on the Tet 2023, 2025 and 2026 holidays, plus published operator schedules and museum notices. These are not guarantees and not forecasts for 2027; they describe how the category has behaved.",
    "window_convention": "Windows are stated relative to Tet day (mung 1) using Vietnamese lunar-day names where useful. '29 Tet' is Lunar New Year's Eve; 'mung 1' is Lunar New Year's Day; 'mung 4' is the fourth day of the new year. Gregorian equivalents for 2027 are in the tet_2027 block.",
    "holiday_schedule_caveat": "The exact 2027 public-holiday dates were not announced when this dataset was published. Every window that depends on office and bank closures will shift with that decision.",
    "confidence": {
      "high": "Multiple independent 2025-2026 sources, official notices, or published operator schedules",
      "medium": "A single credible source, or figures that vary widely by operator and location",
      "low": "Directionally supported but not well quantified in public sources; flagged in the note"
    },
    "notes": [
      "Ranges, never averages — operators publish bands and reporters quote examples, so no means are computed.",
      "Prices are quoted as reported. Where a source gives one route or one city, the row says so rather than generalising.",
      "The dataset deliberately records categories where Tet is neutral or good for visitors, because a list of only the bad effects would misrepresent the holiday.",
      "Tet 2026 fell on 17 February 2026 with a nine-day official holiday from 14 to 22 February; Tet 2025 fell on 29 January 2025. Most observed magnitudes come from these two holidays."
    ]
  },
  "categories": [
    {
      "category": "Domestic flight fares",
      "normal_state": "Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi typically 1.5-2.5 million VND one way in economy off-peak; cheap buckets widely available",
      "tet_state": "Cheap buckets sold out; remaining seats priced at or near the fare cap on peak dates",
      "direction": "up",
      "magnitude": "Base fares up about 40 percent versus off-peak, but real paid fares on peak dates run roughly 2-3x. Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh reached about 5 million VND one way for Tet 2026; Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi round trips were quoted from 6.36 million to 7.3 million VND depending on the lunar departure day",
      "window": "Sharpest 5 days before mung 1 through 29 Tet for outbound legs from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and again mung 4 to mung 7 for return legs",
      "note": "Capacity does not fix it. Airlines scheduled 36,900 flights and 7.8 million seats for the Tet 2026 peak, up 27 percent on the previous year, and fares still climbed. The direction of the surge reverses at Tet: seats out of the big cities are scarce before the holiday and seats back into them are scarce after it.",
      "confidence": "high",
      "source": "Viet Nam News, \"Air, rail fares climb ahead of Tet despite record capacity\" (January 2026); VietnamNet (2025)",
      "source_url": "https://vietnamnews.vn/society/1764496/air-rail-fares-climb-ahead-of-tet-despite-record-capacity.html"
    },
    {
      "category": "Domestic flight availability and booking lead time",
      "normal_state": "Domestic seats bookable a few weeks ahead at moderate prices on nearly any route",
      "tet_state": "Tet inventory opens roughly five to six months ahead; the cheapest buckets are gone within weeks of opening",
      "direction": "down",
      "magnitude": "Vietnam Airlines Group opened Tet 2026 sales on 3 September 2025 with over 3.5 million seats, up nearly 20 percent year on year; Vietjet opened on 28 August 2025 with about 2.5 million seats for 3 February to 2 March 2026. Economy on the busiest Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi dates was fully booked by mid-January",
      "window": "Booking pressure starts about 5 months out; practical sell-out of affordable fares on peak dates by about 6-8 weeks out",
      "note": "The usable planning rule is simple: for a Tet trip, book domestic flights when the schedule opens, not when you would normally book. For 2027 that means roughly September 2026.",
      "confidence": "high",
      "source": "VietnamPlus, \"Vietnam Airlines Group puts up 3.5 million tickets for early sale for Tet 2026\"; Vietcetera (2025)",
      "source_url": "https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-airlines-group-puts-up-35-million-tickets-for-early-sale-for-tet-2026-post325869.vnp"
    },
    {
      "category": "International inbound air fares",
      "normal_state": "Long-haul inbound fares follow ordinary northern-winter high-season pricing",
      "tet_state": "Elevated on the routes overseas Vietnamese use to come home, and on regional short-haul; long-haul leisure routes are much less disturbed than domestic",
      "direction": "up",
      "magnitude": "Modest relative to domestic. The Tet 2026 network plan carried 2.2 million international seats alongside 5.6 million domestic. Regional outbound fares from Vietnam to Thailand were reported up 10-20 percent year on year",
      "window": "Roughly 2 weeks before mung 1 for inbound legs; the fortnight after mung 7 is often the cheapest inbound window of the quarter",
      "note": "This is the row where the Tet effect is weakest, and travellers over-anticipate it. If you are flying in from Europe, North America or Australia, your fare is driven far more by the general January-March high season than by Tet itself. Public data on inbound long-haul pricing specifically is thin, so treat the direction as reliable and the size as indicative.",
      "confidence": "low",
      "source": "Viet Nam News (January 2026); Travel And Tour World on Tet outbound fares to Thailand",
      "source_url": "https://vietnamnews.vn/society/1764496/air-rail-fares-climb-ahead-of-tet-despite-record-capacity.html"
    },
    {
      "category": "Intercity trains (north-south rail)",
      "normal_state": "Reunification Express berths bookable days ahead; fares stable year-round",
      "tet_state": "Peak-day departures sold out months in advance; extra services added and still insufficient",
      "direction": "down",
      "magnitude": "Availability collapses; fares rise only about 5-10 percent year on year. Vietnam Railways ran 906 services and about 384,000 north-south seats for Tet 2026, a 7 percent increase, and still sold out even-numbered pre-Tet days out of Ho Chi Minh City (7-14 February) and odd-numbered days from mung 4 to mung 7",
      "window": "Sold out on the 7-10 days before mung 1 southbound-to-home routes, and mung 3 to mung 7 on returns",
      "note": "Rail is the clearest illustration of the Tet effect: the price barely moves, the seats simply cease to exist. Tickets for Tet 2026 went on public sale at 8am on 20 September 2025 — five months ahead, with group sales five days earlier. About 140,000 tickets had sold by 22 December and 227,000 by 19 January.",
      "confidence": "high",
      "source": "SGGP English, Vietnam Railways Tet 2026 sales plan; DTiNews, \"Tet 2026 train tickets sell out on peak travel days\"",
      "source_url": "https://dtinews.dantri.com.vn/vietnam-today/tet-2026-train-tickets-sell-out-on-peak-travel-days-20260122085104992.htm"
    },
    {
      "category": "Intercity buses and sleeper coaches",
      "normal_state": "Walk-up seats on most routes; open-tour and sleeper fares stable",
      "tet_state": "Declared holiday surcharges, heavy pre-booking, and one-way loading as coaches run empty in the return direction",
      "direction": "up",
      "magnitude": "Typical surcharges of 20-40 percent, with 40-60 percent reported on long routes out of Ho Chi Minh City toward Da Lat, Nha Trang and the Central Highlands. Some operators and some stations hold fares flat",
      "window": "Roughly 23 thang Chap to 29 Tet outbound (about two weeks before mung 1), and mung 4 to mung 8 inbound",
      "note": "Surcharges are not arbitrary. Operators must declare Tet pricing to the bus station in advance, and operators that raise fares outside the declared schedule have been fined in Ho Chi Minh City. The stated justification is the empty return leg — coaches carrying migrants home run back to the cities with nobody in them.",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "source": "Vexere and Vietnamese operator fare notices for Tet 2026; VOH on an HCMC operator fined for out-of-rule Tet fare increases",
      "source_url": "https://voh.com.vn/xa-hoi/tphcm-mot-nha-xe-bi-phat-do-tang-gia-ve-tet-sai-quy-dinh-643851.html"
    },
    {
      "category": "Resort and beach hotel rates",
      "normal_state": "February is high season on the southern coast; rates firm but negotiable, availability normal",
      "tet_state": "Near-full occupancy at the leisure destinations, holiday surcharges applied, minimum-stay rules common",
      "direction": "up",
      "magnitude": "Rates typically 30-50 percent above shoulder pricing. Occupancy over Tet 2026: Phu Quoc about 95 percent, Sapa 90-95 percent, Da Lat and Phan Thiet 80-90 percent, Nha Trang beachfront 80-90 percent with almost nothing available between mung 2 and mung 4",
      "window": "29 Tet through about mung 6, with the tightest nights mung 2 to mung 4",
      "note": "These are also the properties least likely to disrupt your trip: they are staffed for the holiday, their restaurants stay open, and their guests over Tet 2026 at some Phu Quoc resorts were mostly international. You pay a premium for a normal holiday.",
      "confidence": "high",
      "source": "VnExpress International, \"Sa Pa, Phu Quoc brace for Tet tourist rush as hotel occupancy rates reach 90%\"",
      "source_url": "https://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel/places/sa-pa-phu-quoc-brace-for-tet-tourist-rush-as-hotel-occupancy-rates-reach-90-5041356.html"
    },
    {
      "category": "City hotel rates (business and budget segments)",
      "normal_state": "Urban hotels run on a corporate and transit base; midweek is the strong part of the week",
      "tet_state": "The corporate base disappears; leisure demand only partly replaces it; national occupancy sits well below resort levels",
      "direction": "mixed",
      "magnitude": "National accommodation occupancy over the nine-day Tet 2026 holiday was about 55-60 percent; Hanoi averaged 66.8 percent and its four- and five-star segment just over 72 percent. Budget hotels and hostels see small increases or none at all",
      "window": "The full official holiday, weakest mung 1 to mung 3",
      "note": "This is the row that contradicts the standard warning. Vietnamese cities do not sell out at Tet — the country's occupancy peaks are in the resorts. A well-located city hotel over mung 1 to mung 3 can be one of the better-value rooms of the Vietnamese year, and the tradeoff is that the neighbourhood around it is shut.",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "source": "VietnamPlus, national Tet 2026 tourism wrap-up (occupancy figures); Hanoi Department of Tourism data reported February 2026",
      "source_url": "https://www.vietnamplus.vn/du-lich-ca-nuoc-khoi-sac-soi-dong-sau-ky-nghi-dai-9-ngay-tet-nguyen-dan-2026-post1095079.vnp"
    },
    {
      "category": "Independent restaurants",
      "normal_state": "Open daily; family-run com binh dan, bun and pho shops are the backbone of eating out",
      "tet_state": "Last service on 29 Tet, then shut while the family observes the holiday",
      "direction": "closed",
      "magnitude": "Typically 3-7 days. Reopening clusters on mung 4 and mung 5; a widely used estimate is that roughly 30 percent of independent places are trading again by mung 4 and 60 percent by mung 6",
      "window": "29 Tet through about mung 5, longer in provincial towns",
      "note": "Chains and international-facing venues are the exception and stay open on reduced hours. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City both had well-publicised lists of restaurants trading through Tet 2026, and on mung 3 the streets of Ho Chi Minh City were still visibly thin. The gap is far wider outside the two big cities.",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "source": "Vietnam.vn reporting on Ho Chi Minh City reopening timing at Tet 2026; Vietnam.vn on Hanoi restaurants open through Tet",
      "source_url": "https://www.vietnam.vn/en/mung-3-tet-duong-pho-tp-hcm-van-thoang-quan-an-nghi-tet-mung-may-ban-lai"
    },
    {
      "category": "Street food stalls and market carts",
      "normal_state": "The cheapest and most numerous food option in every Vietnamese city, trading from dawn",
      "tet_state": "The category that disappears most completely and returns last",
      "direction": "closed",
      "magnitude": "Commonly 7 or more days. Single-family carts have no staff to cover a shift, so they simply stop",
      "window": "29 Tet through about mung 7, with the sparsest days mung 1 to mung 3",
      "note": "If street food is the reason you came to Vietnam, this row is the argument against a Tet-week trip on its own. It also falls hardest on budget travellers, because the substitutes that remain open — hotel restaurants, chains, convenience stores — are the expensive end of the market.",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "source": "Vietnam Tourism, \"Traveling in Vietnam during Tet: a survival guide to closures, transport and food\"",
      "source_url": "https://www.vietnamtourism.com/en/traveling-in-vietnam-during-tet-a-survival-guide-to-closures-transport-and-food"
    },
    {
      "category": "Wet markets and small shops",
      "normal_state": "Neighbourhood wet markets trade every morning; small shops open long hours",
      "tet_state": "Frantic trading up to 29 Tet, then closure; supermarkets and convenience chains cover the gap in cities only",
      "direction": "closed",
      "magnitude": "Traditional markets typically shut about 3 days from mung 1, with partial trading resuming mung 2 to mung 4. Circle K, 7-Eleven and WinMart-type stores stay open on reduced hours",
      "window": "Mung 1 to about mung 3 in cities; longer in district towns and villages",
      "note": "The market is also the best pre-Tet sight in the country. The flower and kumquat markets in the five days before 29 Tet are among the most photogenic scenes in Vietnam, and they are at their peak exactly when everything else is still open.",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "source": "Vietnam Tourism Tet closures guide; Vietnamese municipal Tet trading notices 2026",
      "source_url": "https://www.vietnamtourism.com/en/traveling-in-vietnam-during-tet-a-survival-guide-to-closures-transport-and-food"
    },
    {
      "category": "Museums and heritage sites",
      "normal_state": "State museums open six or seven days a week; ticketed heritage sites open daily",
      "tet_state": "Much less disrupted than travellers expect — a short closure around the turn of the year, then business as usual",
      "direction": "closed",
      "magnitude": "Typically 1-2 days, occasionally 3-5. For Tet 2026 the National Museum of History in Hanoi closed on 29 Tet and mung 1 and reopened mung 2; the Ho Chi Minh City Museum closed only on 29 Tet; the War Remnants Museum stayed open throughout",
      "window": "29 Tet and mung 1, with individual notices varying",
      "note": "The direction can even reverse. Hanoi opened its heritage sites across the whole Tet 2026 holiday and waived admission at 17 major sites from mung 4 to mung 6. Pagodas and temples are open, busy and at their most atmospheric — visiting them is the point of the holiday for many Vietnamese families.",
      "confidence": "high",
      "source": "Nhan Dan on free admission at 17 Hanoi heritage sites through mung 6; Ho Chi Minh City Museum and National Museum of History Tet 2026 notices",
      "source_url": "https://nhandan.vn/ha-noi-mien-phi-tham-quan-17-di-tich-quan-trong-den-het-mong-6-tet-post943899.html"
    },
    {
      "category": "Banks, government offices and exchange counters",
      "normal_state": "Branches open weekdays; bureaux de change and gold shops open daily in the tourist districts",
      "tet_state": "Fully closed for the entire public holiday, with no partial or skeleton service",
      "direction": "closed",
      "magnitude": "5-9 days, matching whatever the government declares. Tet 2026 ran nine days from 14 to 22 February; the statutory minimum is five",
      "window": "The full declared public holiday, beginning on or just before 29 Tet",
      "note": "This is the only row where the closure length is set by decree rather than by custom, and it is the row most sensitive to the 2027 announcement. Immigration counters, visa-extension offices and licensing desks close with the rest of the public sector, so anything administrative has to be finished before the holiday starts.",
      "confidence": "high",
      "source": "Ministry of Home Affairs notice on the Tet 2026 holiday schedule (16 October 2025); Article 112, Labour Code 2019",
      "source_url": "https://ttbc-hcm.gov.vn/bo-noi-vu-thong-bao-chi-tiet-lich-nghi-tet-nguyen-dan-2026-1019793.html"
    },
    {
      "category": "ATMs and cash supply",
      "normal_state": "Dense ATM coverage; reliable refills; cards accepted in mid-range and up",
      "tet_state": "Machines still running but drained by pre-holiday withdrawals and refilled slowly while branches are shut",
      "direction": "down",
      "magnitude": "Tourist-district machines commonly run dry within about 2 days of the holiday starting and can stay empty until the refill cycle restarts near the end of the break. Practical guidance is to hold several million dong in cash before 29 Tet",
      "window": "About 2 days before mung 1 through the end of the public holiday",
      "note": "Cash matters more at Tet than at any other time of year, because the businesses that do stay open — small kitchens, temple stalls, xe om riders, market vendors — are the least card-friendly. This is also the row where a mistake is most annoying and most avoidable.",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "source": "Vietnam Tourism Tet closures and cash guide",
      "source_url": "https://www.vietnamtourism.com/en/traveling-in-vietnam-during-tet-a-survival-guide-to-closures-transport-and-food"
    },
    {
      "category": "Grab, ride-hailing and taxis",
      "normal_state": "Cars and bikes arrive in about 3 minutes in central Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City at metered or app-quoted fares",
      "tet_state": "Fewer drivers on the road, declared holiday surcharges, and heavy surge on the first days of the new year",
      "direction": "up",
      "magnitude": "Grab has applied flat Tet surcharges — 5,000 VND on GrabBike, GrabFood, GrabMart and Grab Express and 15,000 VND on GrabCar over 20-26 January 2023 — on top of surge. Waits stretch from about 3 minutes to as long as 20; fares commonly run 1.5-2x, more on airport runs",
      "window": "29 Tet through about mung 4, worst on the night of giao thua and on mung 1",
      "note": "Airport transfers are the pinch point. A great many drivers are themselves migrants who have gone home, so supply falls in exactly the cities where arrival volumes are highest. Pre-booking a hotel car for an airport arrival between 29 Tet and mung 3 is worth the premium.",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "source": "VnExpress International, \"Grab to charge extra during Tet holidays\"",
      "source_url": "https://e.vnexpress.net/news/companies/grab-to-charge-extra-during-tet-holidays-4557276.html"
    },
    {
      "category": "Tour operators, day trips and guides",
      "normal_state": "Daily departures on all mainstream day trips; guides bookable at short notice",
      "tet_state": "Thinned schedules, holiday pay loaded into prices, and many small independents pausing entirely",
      "direction": "mixed",
      "magnitude": "Large operators and resort-based activity desks keep running with surcharges; owner-operated tours, motorbike-loop outfits and village homestays often stop for 3-5 days from 29 Tet",
      "window": "29 Tet through about mung 4",
      "note": "Scale predicts survival here. A Ha Long Bay cruise line or a Phu Quoc dive centre has enough staff to roster a holiday shift; a two-guide food-tour business in Hanoi does not. Confirm in writing that your specific departure runs, rather than assuming the operator's normal calendar applies.",
      "confidence": "low",
      "source": "Vietnam Tourism Tet closures guide; Day Trips Vietnam festival and public holiday atlas 2026",
      "source_url": "https://daytripsvietnam.com/guides/vietnam-festival-calendar-atlas-2026/"
    },
    {
      "category": "City traffic and street conditions",
      "normal_state": "Dense motorbike traffic, congested intersections, constant noise in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City",
      "tet_state": "Traffic thins dramatically as residents stay indoors or leave for their home provinces",
      "direction": "better_for_travellers",
      "magnitude": "Not formally measured, but widely and consistently reported: central districts become walkable, major intersections crossable on foot, and the ambient noise drops to a level the cities never otherwise reach",
      "window": "Mung 1 and mung 2, easing from mung 3",
      "note": "For photographers, cyclists and anyone who finds Vietnamese traffic exhausting, these are the two best days of the year to be in a Vietnamese city. The same emptiness that closes the pho shop opens the street.",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "source": "Vietnamese and English-language Tet 2026 coverage of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi street conditions",
      "source_url": "https://www.vietnam.vn/en/mung-3-tet-duong-pho-tp-hcm-van-thoang-quan-an-nghi-tet-mung-may-ban-lai"
    },
    {
      "category": "Domestic tourist volume at attractions",
      "normal_state": "February is a moderate domestic-travel month outside weekends",
      "tet_state": "The single biggest domestic travel surge of the Vietnamese year, concentrated on pagodas, beaches and hill towns",
      "direction": "up",
      "magnitude": "An estimated 14 million visitors nationwide over the nine-day Tet 2026 holiday, up 12 percent year on year. Ho Chi Minh City recorded more than 4.32 million visits to attractions (up about 35 percent), Ninh Binh over 2.37 million and Da Nang more than 1.1 million",
      "window": "Mung 1 to about mung 6, extending to the first full moon on ram thang gieng",
      "note": "The intuition that Tet empties Vietnam is half right. It empties the workplaces and the small businesses, and it fills the pagodas, the beaches and the hill towns. Anywhere you were planning to go to see Vietnamese people enjoying themselves will be busier, not quieter.",
      "confidence": "high",
      "source": "VietnamPlus, \"Tourism flourishes during Tet, welcoming 14 million visitors\"",
      "source_url": "https://en.vietnamplus.vn/tourism-flourishes-during-tet-welcoming-14-million-visitors-post338098.vnp"
    }
  ]
}