Archive for December, 2006
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| La Residence Hotel and Spa in Hue City has inaugurated its 76-square-meter Resident’s Suite a year after the hotel’s renaissance as one of grand, colonial-era hotels in Vietnam.
The hotel’s general manager Carmen Marienberg has described the opening of the Resident’s Suite as the final piece in the comeback of a grand, old hotel.
‘In the past year, we’ve opened our spa, fitness center and pool bar as complements to our dining venues, tennis court, lounges and game room,” he said.
The suite commands the upper story of the hotel’s main building and features two rooms with curved walls, well-lit nooks furnished with desks and reading lamps.
The high-ceilinged rooms contain a four-poster bed, a plasma television and a DVD player, French drapery and art-deco appointments. The bright bathroom includes three sinks, a freestanding tub and a glass shower booth.
The suite’s French doors and multi-paned windows yield to a spacious, private terrace that provides panoramic views of the Perfume River, the landmark Trang Tien Bridge and the Citadel of Hue.
The 122-room La Residence Hotel and Spa celebrated its grand opening late last year after the restoration of the former colonial governor’s mansion. Since La Residence has established itself as the preferred port of call in Hue for a host of European ambassadors, celebrities, writers and artists.
National Geographic, the world’s prestigious publisher of travel literature, hailed the hotel as one of Vietnam’s five most distinguished addresses, in league with the five-star Sofitel Dalat Palace and the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi.
Set on a two-hectare site with 200 meters of frontage on the fabled Perfume River, the hotel also boasts a saltwater swimming pool, an upscale Comfort Zone spa, as well as the city’s most compelling watering hole at Le Gouverneur.
To view the information on this hotel from our website - simply click on the below link:
http://www.orientalcompass.com/hotel_detail.php?hotel_id=00274&country_id=229&city_id=16
(Source: SGT) |
December 30th, 2006
VietNamNet Bridge – The national air carrier Vietnam Airlines has announced it will begin selling e-tickets in February, or one month later compared to its previous plan.
The plan to sell e-tickets has been delayed as the Ministry of Finance still cannot define the specific payment procedures for e-tickets.
When booking an e-ticket, passengers will receive a receipt with the certified stamp of Vietnam Airlines. This will be the lawful payment voucher, which is considered as the red bill.
Vietnam is now also planning to launch a specific website serving e-ticket sales. When passengers enter their names and ticket numbers into the website, they will be able to print the information relating to their flights. The main information like the date of flights, ticket numbers will also be printed onto A4/A5 papers to be delivered to passengers, or will be sent to passengers’ e-mail or mobile devices.
According to the Passenger Marketing Division under Vietnam Airlines, the selling of e-tickets in the trial period from December 4 to 31 has been showing good results with several thousands of tickets having been sold. An official from Vietnam Airlines said that the rapid development of e-tickets in the world has been worrying Vietnam Airlines and forcing the airline to apply the e-ticket selling system as quickly as possible.
The official said that in 2006, 75% of the total tickets issued by BSP, the agent system belonging to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), have been e-tickets.
BSP in the Republic of Korea (ROK), for example, plans to issue 100% e-tickets in 2007, while Vietnam has not implemented any detailed plan on selling e-tickets yet.
IATA has announced that it would not accept paper tickets as of 2008. Therefore, issuing e-tickets is one of the most important tasks of Vietnam Airlines in 2007.
(Source: VNE)
December 30th, 2006
Viet Nam, which has seen a recent influx of foreign budget airlines, is set to get its first low-cost carrier. Pacific Airlines (PA), now a full-cost carrier in which the government owns over 86 percent and Saigon Tourist over 13 percent, will make the switch to a budget carrier in February 2007.
Ta Huu Thanh, deputy head of the PA northern branch, said: “The company can offer even one-dollar tickets on some flights. It then expects to carry 8 million passengers, twice the current figure.” Industry insiders said Pacific Airlines’ decision was aimed at pre-empting a take-over of domestic air routes by foreign budget airlines in the near future.
Some foreign airlines had expressed a desire to provide low-cost air transport within Viet Nam, experts said.
Malaysia’s AirAsia was one such airline, they said. Its director, Tony Fernandes, is on record as saying: “If the company is allowed to open a budget air route linking Ha Noi and HCM City it would be able to offer the service at just 500,000 VND (31 USD), inclusive of service charges,” Tony said.
Within Malaysia, a one-hour flight costs just 10 USD plus service charge, while a similar service by Vietnam Airlines costs 830,000 VND (52 USD), he said. According to the Asia Pacific Airlines Centre, several new budget airlines would enter the market in the next five years.
There would be some 650 cheap flights daily in the region compared with the current 290, it said.(Source: VNA)
December 30th, 2006
Laos will exempt Japanese from visa requirements for short-term stays from January 01 2007 in a bid to strengthen the two countries’ ties, visiting Laotian Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulit said Thursday, December 14 2006.
Thongloun said he hopes the visa exemption will help promote tourism and encourage cultural and academic exchanges between the two countries, and lead to an increase in direct investment from Japan in the future.
Source: manager.co.th
December 19th, 2006
Budget airline Thai AirAsia would begin to fly to Ho Chi Minh City latest by the second quarter of next year, its CEO said recently.
Tassapon Bijleveld said all paperwork for the Bangkok-Ho Chi Minh City route had been completed and that Vietnamese authorities had been very supportive.
The airlines has been flying on the Bangkok-Hanoi sector since October last year and has since carried 150,000 passengers.
Bijleveld said the airlines was also considering flying to the former imperial capital Hue in central Vietnam after leasing four aircraft.
Source: Vietnamnet
December 18th, 2006
Air Bagan has taken delivery of its first Airbus A320, and annouced it will kick off regional service to Bangkok, Singapore and Kunming by early March 2007.
Air Bagan recently announced that it has added the 228-seat Airbus A320 to its six-aircraft fleet comprised of a Fokker-100, 2 ATR-70s and 3 ATR-42s. The airline also said that it was scheduled to receive a second A320 by the end of the year.
Air Bagan is now in the process of preparing the necessary documentations to utilise the A320 for regional flights. The carrier plans to commence service to Bangkok and Singapore by early March. Though the Bangkok-Yangon route has high potential but it is currently dominated by stronger player including Thai Airways and Bangkok Airways or Myanmar Airways International. However, they say Air Bagan’s main selling point is its domestic network which take in top tourist destinations such as Bagan, Mandalaly and Heho.
Source: TTR Weekly
December 18th, 2006
The new bridge across the Mekhong River linking the western Laotian province of Savannakhet and the northeastern Thai province of Mukdahan will be opened on December 20 2006 with Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to presider over the opening.
There will be 3 days of celebration from December 20-22 2006 in Thailand to mark the event, whil Laos will organise a border fair from December 17-24 2006 featuring 200 booths selling local products.
The bridge spaning the Khong River is 12-meter wide and 1.6 kms. long. It is the second bridge across the Khong River, following the first one (The Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge) linking Nong Khai and Vientiane, capital of Laos.
Source: Bangkok Post and Tourism Authority of Thailand
December 7th, 2006
| Vietnam’s first 5-star train will go through its final operating and safety checks during the trial service from December 10 2006, one week ahead of its maiden commercial trip between Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang City, according to the deluxe service’s chief executive of operations.
Nguyen Hai Ninh told the Daily after a new briefing in HCMC on Sunday that the finishing works and final preparations were being carried out ahead of the inaugural test-run between Ho Chi Minh City-Nha Trang, which will be during the next three weeks to make sure that everything goes off smoothly.
Ninh also said the most urgent works that were currently being attended to were the final installation of new equipment, as well as finishing touches to the external and internal paint so that the luxury travel train can start its first passenger service on schedule between Ho Chi Minh City and the central coastal tourism city in Khanh Hoa Province on December 16 2006.
The train will depart HCMC at 6:15 am before stopping at Thap Cham Station en route to Nha Trang for its 1:33 pm arrival. The return trip is scheduled to depart from Nha Trang at 2:55pm via Thap Cham to arrive in Ho Chi Minh City at 11:18 pm.
Return tickets cost VND900,000 for a 5-starClub seat, VND660,000 for a Deluxe seat, and VND440,000 for a Standard seat. Passengers can reserve tickets at www.5starexpress.com.vn.
The 5-Star Express has 10 carriages; 6 will be used for passengers while other coaches will be used for a restaurant and bar; a health care center; conferences and exhibitions; foot, hand and head massages; movie projection, and other such recreational activities to help entertain passengers during the trip.
Source: Vietnamnet Bridge – November 2006
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December 1st, 2006
As the year draws to a close, sunflowers are in bloom in Lop Buri. You can watch the flowers at selected places in the province, where they will remain in bloom for a period of 2 weeks.
December 01-13 2006
At Tambon Salaeng Phan in Wang Muang District
December 07-21 2006
At Tambon Ban Kluai in Nong Don District
December 08-22 2006
At Tambon Mithraphap in Muak Lek District
With the coming holidays in December - so why not take a break out of Bangkok and enjoy yourselves to see them at their best time!
Source:Tourism Authority of Thailand and Bangkok Post
December 1st, 2006
