30 indochina
“Indochina’s peak travel season is normally from November to March, and particularly between January and March. Availability around these dates therefore becomes limited, so we’d advise early booking”
OSCAR LOPERA, PRODUCT AND PURCHASING MANAGER, TRAVEL 2
Above: Two of the more famous temples from the Angkor Wat complex - Ta Prohm and Bayon. Below: Rice fi elds near Siem Reap, Cambodia.
‘concept hotel’ that opened in mid-2014, complete with spa, fi tness centre and a rooftop infi nity pool. Joining the market around the same time, the wellness-focused Alma Courtyard (almacourtyardhoian. com) is a 145-room property in the atmospheric town of Hoi An. It has a My Chi Spa. With an opening date tentatively scheduled
for January 2015, Reverie Saigon (thereveriesaigon. com) will bring another high-end option to Ho Chi Minh City – it will have 286 rooms and suites and is already part of the Luxury Hotels of the World portfolio. Being unveiled in July 2015, meanwhile, the 350-room Le Meridien Saigon (starwoodhotels. com) is set to be a further reliable choice. Across in Cambodia, the stylish Tamu Hotel
(
tamucambodia.com) has been open for around a year and sits on the coast in Sihanoukville.
It bills itself as ‘affordable luxury’. Airlines: A new regional carrier, Cambodia Bayon Airlines, was registered in April and is expected to be operational by the end of 2014. It intends to run regular fl ights from Phnom Penh to both Siem Reap (for Angkor Wat) and
Sihanoukville. Meanwhile, July 2014 saw Vietnam Airlines launch two new routes to Japan, bringing
more twin-centre options for Asian travellers. Operators: Wendy Wu’s 2015 Southeast Asia brochure has a number of new tours, including a ‘Rivers of Indochina’ cruise and a 15-day ‘Laos and Cambodia Unveiled’ itinerary. Travel Indochina has a new 2015-16 preview brochure featuring escorted small-group journeys, as well as a new 2014-16 river cruising brochure.
Tourism talk “Indochina is an excellent long-haul choice, whether clients want to discover one country in detail or ‘country-hop’
across Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Autumn attracts couples keen to escape dreary winter weather and experience new cultures. For travel over the peak Christmas and New Year period many fl ights and hotels will charge higher rates. Avoid this by advising clients with enough fl exibility to try and travel either late November/early December or from mid-January onwards when rates will drop and availability improve – this will not only result in a better price
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