Tet Season Lures Tourists to Vietnam : Travel: An unprecedented number of emigrants are visiting their homeland for the lunar new year due to an easing of economic restrictions.

In a couple of weeks, Dinh Truong will go to Vietnam to keep a promise he made with his fiancee before he emigrated two years ago. Truong had told her that he’d one day come back to visit and, if possible, bring her to America.

It is no coincidence that Truong’s return to Vietnam also will enable him to spend time there during Tet, the Vietnamese new year. And he is not alone. Unprecedented numbers of Vietnamese-Americans are visiting their homeland this lunar new year.

At Tony Lam’s three restaurants in Garden Grove and Rosemead, rarely a day goes by without some customer talking about spending Tet in Vietnam.

“Everywhere you go, people discuss about going to Vietnam,” said Lam, a Westminster councilman.

Thanks to the easing of the U.S. economic embargo against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, more and more Vietnamese-Americans are going back to visit the old country. The Bush Administration earlier this month allowed American businesses to open offices and sign contracts with Vietnam. Though Americans still cannot do business with Vietnam, the move by the Bush Administration is seen as just a step short of lifting the embargo.

In addition to visiting relatives, many Vietnamese-Americans are using the trip to look for business opportunities in Vietnam.

Newspapers from Vietnam have reported that the country is expecting 50,000 foreign visitors--mostly Vietnamese overseas--during this Tet season, which starts on Jan. 23. That’s up from about 35,000 during the last Tet.

The number of Vietnamese-American visitors from Orange County is not known, but there are strong indications that more are going back during this Tet than ever.

Travel agencies in Little Saigon report booming sales of tickets to Vietnam. Some say business has doubled this year. “All the big (travel) companies have sold out tickets for three months now,” said Long Tran, owner of Trans Travel in Westminster.

Flights to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, have been booked solid since early November. “You look at the reservations computer these days and it’s all ‘stand-by,’ ” said Thanh Tran of 99 Travel & Tours in Little Saigon.

The airlines are trying to accommodate the growing demands. Three Asian air services, two from Taiwan and one from South Korea.

The number of flights has increased also.

Cathay Airlines, for example, scheduled three to four flights a week to Tan Son Nhut Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Now it features daily service to the city.

The added competition has helped bring ticket prices down about 20% from last year, Thanh Tran said. The lowest ticket used to be around $1,050, and now is about $850, he said.

Ticket prices include application work for visa and, for passengers without U.S. citizenship, a re-entry permit.

Because the United States doesn’t have formal diplomatic relations with Vietnam, visas have be done through faxes and telegrams with embassies in Mexico and Canada, travel agents said.

Another indication that travel to Vietnam has increased is simply the fact that more people are talking about it.

As recent as two years ago, Vietnamese-Americans visiting Vietnam rarely mentioned it for fear of being branded a Communist. Those who worked for defense contractors kept it quiet for fear of damaging their career, said C. Vu , an Orange County businessman.

But the prospect of imminent normalization with Vietnam has opened things up.

“Now, no one is scared,” Long Tran said. “Everyone is going to Vietnam.”

Much like the Western holiday season, Tet is a time for introspection and for overindulgence in food and drinks. But most of all, it’s a time for family reunion, for thinking about one’s ancestors.

Many Vietnamese-Americans would like to relive the flavor and atmosphere of Tet in Vietnam.

“Here, you don’t feel the ambience of Tet,” Truong said. “You miss the sound of firecrackers, the cherry blossoms. Somehow, it’s not the same here. The firecrackers don’t sound the same. The cherry blossoms aren’t as beautiful.”

Many look forward to revisiting the old capital city they knew as Saigon, with its French-built boulevards and buildings.

Many may be in for disappointment.

Phil Tran has just returned from Vietnam. The beauty that once earned Saigon the nickname “Pearl of the Orient” has faded a tad.

“The images of Saigon today are not the same the images of Saigon from the old days,” Phil Tran said. “Saigon is sadder, the people are poorer.”

For Truong, a 27-year-old resident of El Monte, the trip means reuniting with friends and loved ones, the true meaning of Tet.

“I think it’s going to be fun because I’ve been away for so long,” he said. “Fun because I’ll get to see my friends and my lover.”