Travelweekly magazine 09-09-2010

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American golfer Bryan Saltus promotes Vietnam’s Sea Links golf course

How to Save Money When Travelling

The Mid-Autumn Festival - Past and Present

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Dear Travel Weekly readers!

Welcome to the 34 Issues of Travel Weekly!

First of all, on behalf of all the members at Travel Weekly Magazine I would like to say thank you very much for supporting and sharing with us your ideas since the early days of our magazine.

Born to bring our readers useful and up-to-date information about Travel Busi-ness in Vietnam and around the world to your desktop every Thursday, today, Travel Weekly becomes a part of your daily works for all travel executive as well as travel lovers those who cares about the tourism industry.

We understand that saving a tree is the responsibility for everyone who inter-ested in the environmental disaster as what the Business Travel operators call “Responsible Travel”, therefore, towards the eco-friendly environment, Travel Weekly call our each issue is Eco-Friendly Magazine because we design and “print” and/or publish our magazine in PDF format which allows us to send you immediately via e-mail as well as distribute our magazine to global read-ers. Moreover, at our website, there is even a better way to read our magazine without download which let you choose the first read and then deciding to keep it on your computer for store or further review.

We do hope that everything we do is just to give you everything in travel news for your works and your care. We are looking forward to receive your supports and share with us in the coming time. Thank you for travelling with us!

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NewsHang. Bui DucM: +84 979 051 210E: [email protected]

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Editor-in-Chief Anh. Nguyen Hoang

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American golfer Bryan Saltus promotes Vietnam’s Sea Links golf course

How to Save Money When Travelling

The Mid-Autumn Festival - Past and Present

http://www.itehcmc.com/

“Golf in Vietnam is in good development trend with many international-standard golf courses and I hope to open a golf course in the future here,” according to an American golfing pro., Bryan Saltus, at the press conference to promote the beach town as a leading golf destination in Vietnam.

06 - 07. Four Vietnam hotels win recogni-tion in Smart Travel Asia Poll

02. Festival to honour Vietnam’s handicraft villages

VIETNAM NEWS

05. Vietnamese ethnic culture-tourism village to open

04. Eco-tourism route linking Thailand, Laos and Vietnam

09. U.S. Companies Consider Vietnam the Most Attractive Destination in ASEAN

How to Save Money When Travelling36

For most of us, one of the most important considerations when planning a vacation is the cost. If going to Europe or taking a cruise, it is critical to book your trip during the off-season--generally fall through early spring--to save on airfare, cruise and hotel costs. But once you reach your destination, no matter the season, there are ways to minimize spending without sacrificing any of the fun.

American golfer Bryan Saltus promotes Vietnam’s Sea Links

golf course

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The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, Zhongqiu Festival, or in Chinese, Zhongqiujie , or in Vietnamese “Tet Trung Thu”, is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese people, dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China’s Shang Dynasty. Below is more information of The Mid-Autumn Festival in the Past and Present in Vietnam.

The Mid-Autumn Festi-val - Past and Present

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10. Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam to join tourism festival in Hanoi

11. Cat Tien National Park to be soon for submission UNESCO

12. Hanoi’s streets to be banned during the capital’s great festival

14. Concert marks 1,000th years of Thang Long-Hanoi

1,000 YEARS OF THANG LONG - HANOI

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

17. Youth Olympics boosts Singapore spending - Visa

18 - 19. Condé Nast Traveler World Savers Congress to be held in Singapore

20. InterCon Fiji opens Club InterContinental

21. Thailand gets Grand Sale spending boost

22 - 23. Greener Future for Costa Cruises

26. Malaysia scraps visa on arrival policy

29. Air France breaks new territory in Asia

AVIATION NEWS

27. Northwest fixes price of US$38m for price-fixing

31. South Korea launches stringent secu-rity screening

28. Vietnam Airlines Cuts Domestic Fares by 50 Percent

30. Singapore Airlines joins Tourism WA to boost visitors

32 - 35. Quality Medical Holidays in Romania

DESTINATIONS

BUSINESS ADVICE

MEDICAL TOURISM

VIETNAM NEWS

Thursday 09.09.2010 www.travelweekly.com.vn

The VND250 billion (US$12.82 mil-lion) Hang Da Trade Centre project will open in Hoan Kiem District later this year. The project, covering 9,312sq.m and including five floors and two basements, will provide a retail area of nearly 7,000sq.m leas-ing at $6,000-10,000 per sq.m.

The five-star Sea Links Beach Hotel is expected to be officially put into operation in mid October, with an area of an area of 170 hectares. Apart from the hotel, the Sea Links City Complex also includes a 18-hole golf course, Sea Links Golf & Country Club and 320 high-class villas, meeting the standards for resort, investment, and leasing purposes. Rang Dong Group is the main investor for the project.

Hoan Kiem trade centre to open

Five-star hotel to start operations in mid Oct

Grassroots arts festi-val opens in city

The Park Diamond hotel has opened in the city of Phan Thiet, in southeast Vietnam’s Binh Thuan province. The 14-storey seafront property features 168 rooms, includ-ing seven Executive Suites with built-in Jacuzzis, an outdoor swim-ming pool and Jacuzzi, tennis court, gymnasium and business centre. A spa will be added to the hotel shortly.

The Ho Chi Minh City 2010 Grass-roots Arts took place at the Youth Cutural House. More than 1,000 art-ists from different districts through-out the city joined music and dance performances during the event. Activities include a music show organized at the 126 Theater in District 3. The festival closing and award ceremony will take place on 15 September at the Youth Cutural House.

Park Diamond hotel opens in Phan Thiet, Vietnam

According to the information at a press conference in Ho Chi Minh City on 31st August released a festival to honour Vietnam’s handicraft villages will be held in Hanoi from 16-21 September. The festival, jointly held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is aimed at preserving the nation’s traditional cultural characteristics and helping handicraft villages and streets to expand their business. There will be a variety of activities during the festival including a display of special handicraft products from 10 villages and streets in Hanoi and an incense ceremony to honour the founder of the traditional trades. More than 200 organisations and businesses from 50 provinces across the country have registered for the festival, said the orga-nising committee.

Vietnam is likely to achieve its target of attracting 4 million international tourists this year since the number has already topped 3,5 million, according to the General Statistics Office.

Vehicles of air, sea, and land saw increases in the number of foreign tourists. They are mainly from China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, France, Taiwan (China), Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia. China still led in the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam, with between 65,000 and 90,000 arrivals to the country a month.

Several major events during the rest of the year, like the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi and the International Yacht Festival in Mui Ne in the south, are expected to attract flocks of visitors.

Most visitors coming to the country so far this year – 2,7 mil-lion - chose to arrive by air, while 628,600 came by road and 32,500 by sea.

An upward trend is seen in all the categories of trips. The number of people visiting for tourism is up 44,8 percent year on year at 2,1 million while the figures for business and visit-ing relatives are up 44 percent and 4,2 percent at 667,000 and 403,300.

Ho Chi Minh City alone received almost 1,93 million foreign visitors, a rise of 14 percent.

The city hopes to welcome 3 million this year, slightly more than the targeted number, on the back of a tourism stimulus program in November that will include a shopping campaign offering discounts of 10-50 percent.

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Festival to honour Vietnam’s handicraft villages

Foreign tourist arrivals in Vietnam likely to hit target


European and Asian Tour golfer Bryan Saltus has arrived in Vietnam’s Phan Thiet City for a six-week working trip to promote Sea Links Golf & Country Club, dubbed as ‘The Most Challenging Links Style Golf Course in Asia.’

Speaking at a press briefing at the 18-hole golf course on 30 August, the 2007 Cam-bodian Open champion said his three most favorite golf clubs in Vietnam are Sea Links, Ocean Dunes, which is also in the central coastal city, and Chi Linh Star, which is outside Hanoi.

Asked about his feeling of Sea Links, the 39-year-old Californian with salt and pep-per hair said, “I’m really impressed by the location.”

“In America, the idea is location, location, location.”

Sea Links is located by the ocean and the winds blow all the time around the sand dunes. Inspired and designed by the Home of Golf, St.Andrews in Scotland, this par-72 golf course enjoys the warm and sunny weather all year round.

“Playing golf here, you have to estimate the strength of the winds. This requires experience and that’s why playing here is challenging,” he told.

“I’ll be returning here to work or play.”“I might live here, might have a home here,” the colorful Californian said, adding that he came to Phan Thiet for the first time.

The beach city of Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan Province is 200 kilometers north of Ho Chi Minh City and houses a great deal of resorts and hospitality properties.

‘Golf is for Everyone’ is the class Saltus will be guiding during his six weeks at the golf course, said Sea Links Golf general manager Stephen Banks.

The PGA member said Saltus would be inviting children of the owners of the villas in Sea Links and Binh Thuan Province’s business people to participate in the class. He would then conclude his visit by hold-ing the inaugural Bryan Saltus Golf Classic Tournament on September 24-25.

Sea Links has been voted by Vietnam Golf Magazine readers as the country’s Most Challenging Golf Course. It opened in 2008 as part of Sea Links City, a property complex that includes the five-star Sea Links Beach Hotel, which will be launched in mid-October.

The complex spans 58 acres on a long stretch of sand dunes overlooking the ocean.

VIETNAM NEWS 3

Festival to honour Vietnam’s handicraft villages

Foreign tourist arrivals in Vietnam likely to hit target

American golfer Bryan Saltus promotes Sea Links golf course American golfer Bryan Saltus promotes Sea Links golf course

VIETNAM NEWS


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Goods transported via Route 9 are treated different-ly as it is mentioned in the Cross Border Transport Agreement under the Greater Mekong Sub-region framework and thus eligible for lower duties.

This has made transport costs higher and inspec-tions more strict when the goods were transported via Routes 8 and 12, said the source.

Route 8 links Nakhon Phanom in Thailand with Tha Khak of Khammouane in Laos before linking to Route 12 in Laos to Dong Hoi in Vietnam and on to China. Route 9 links Mukdahan in Thailand via Savannakhet of Laos to Danang of Vietnam.

Mr Vitavas said he hoped that when the third Thai-Lao Bridge across the Mekong River linking Nak-hon Phanom and Khammouane opens in Novem-ber next year, it will help facilitate more tourism and trade on this route.

“Laos doesn’t want to be treated as a passageway [but this will require it to] develop its potential for tourism on Routes 8 and 12,” he said.

The weakness of Vietnam on the two routes is that its tourist spots are not connected to each other, he said.

However, Vietnam is discussing with France a pro-posal to build a bullet train line from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City which would result in lower volumes of air passengers and freight, said Mr Vitavas.

He said he would like to utilise the economic cor-ridor as a tourism corridor as Laos is the best loca-tion for creating a link with four countries: Thailand, Burma, China, and Vietnam.

“Travelling through Laos will be the shortest way. If the roads in Laos can be connected, we can easily travel to all five countries in this region,” said Mr Vitavas.

He also urged the GMS members - Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and southern China - to co-operate on tourism more seriously.

He said better joint promotion of tourism was a good way to help alleviate poverty as foreign tour-ists like to visit many Asian countries at one time to save costs and time.

“There are few countries in the world that jointly promote regional tourism, such as those in Europe, the Caribbean countries and Pacific island coun-tries,” said Mr Vitavas.

He said that of the total 2 million visitors to Laos last year, 1.3 million were Thais.

To promote tourism in the region, there should be a single visa and shared infrastructure, he added.

Mr Vitavas said the strategy for tourism promotion should include a common market with three to five countries treated as one destination. As well, it will be important to develop the human resources, en-courage cross-border facilitation, private-sector participation and tourism-related infrastructure.

“Three-country links using Routes 8 and 12 instead of the transport-focused Route 9 could open up huge opportunities,” suggests the Thai ambassador to Vientiane. Thailand, Laos and Vietnam should jointly develop Routes 8 and 12 as eco-tourism routes linking the three countries rather than focusing on the high-ways as a trade route competing with Route 9.

Vitavas Srivihok, the Thai ambassador to Vientiane, said Thailand would raise the issue with Laos and Vietnam to co-operate on eco-tourism as the two routes have good potential for eco-tourism, given the number of caves, waterfalls and other attractive features along the way.

Good transported to Vietnam via Laos on Routes 8 and 12 currently face prob-lems because the Laotian Customs Department treats them as imported goods destined for re-export, thereby having to pay higher duties, said a transport in-dustry source.

Eco-tourism route linking Thailand, Laos and Vietnam


VIETNAM NEWS 5

The Culture-Tourism Village of Vietnamese ethnic groups are scheduled to open on September 19 as a project in celebration of Thang Long-Hanoi mil-lennium anniversary.

Located on a 1,544-ha area in Dong Mo , Son Tay of Hanoi, the site is a complex of traditional Vietnam-ese architectures, highlighting unique characteris-tics of the nation’s culture.

Apart from typical architectural work of each ethnic group, like houses, communal houses, pagodas, many production tools, fine arts and craft, rice culti-vation techniques will be introduced.

There are also functional and service quarters with malls, restaurants, hotels, sports, parks, and resorts.

A series of activities will held on the opening day such as ethnic groups’ specialty fair, food festi-val, cultural and art performance, folk games and sports.

With its construction starting in 2003, the village that features values of the distinctive cultures of each of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups, is expected to be an attractive destination for local and foreign tourists.

Vietnamese ethnic culture-tourism village to open

Vietnamese ethnic culture-tourism village to open

VIETNAM NEWS


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Four Vietnam hotels win recognition in Smart Travel Asia Poll


VIETNAM NEWS 7

One of Southeast Asia’s most widely read travel-trade media outlets, Smart Travel Asia, hailed four properties in Vietnam in its 2010 ‘Best in Travel Poll.’

In the ‘Top 25 Leisure Hotels and Resorts,’ The Nam Hai, Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, Sofitel Dalat Palace and the Princess d’Annam Resort & Spa each won a spot on the coveted list.

The Nam Hai and Metropole have each won a spot on this list in the past. But the Prin-cess and the Palace are first time winners.

“To be open less than two years, and to be ranked on a list that includes the Metropole, Nam Hai and the Aman Resorts, is gratifying indeed,” said Jean-Philippe Beghin, gen-eral manager of the Princess d’Annam.

This year’s poll by Smart Travel Asia, which claims one million online readers, is a “distillation of our readers’ perceptions and favourite travel brands,” according to in-formation at SmartTravelAsia.com.

Voting in this, the sixth annual poll, ran from May to July 2010. Smart Travel Asia said its voters, on average, took 14 air trips in the past 12 months and earned US$165,000 in household income. Approximately 60 percent of the voters were based in Asia; 20 percent from the UK/Europe; and 20 percent from North America.

Four Vietnam hotels win recognition in Smart Travel Asia Poll

VIETNAM NEWS


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www.itcmchina.com


VIETNAM NEWS 9

Vietnam is considered the most attractive investment destination in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by American com-panies, according to survey results announced by the American Chamber of Commerce last month.

Out of those surveyed, 57 percent of the companies were already based in Vietnam. An estimated 71 percent of those companies plan on investing more to expand operations as well as 30 percent of U.S. firms in the region.

The results were taken from answers given by 328 U.S. companies with businesses in ASEAN member countries in Cambodia, Indo-nesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.

Steven R. Okun, the Amcham chairman for the ASEAN region said that American companies are keen to invest in services, logistics and manufacturing in the country.

American companies have become the second largest source of foreign direct investment from January to August this year, pour-ing in US$1.79 billion. This is in comparison with 2009, when the United States was at the top spot as the largest foreign investor in Vietnam with US$9.8 billion.

U.S. Companies Consider Vietnam the Most Attractive Destination in ASEAN


From the 2nd to the 5th of October, the three localities: Thua Thien - Hue, Da Nang, and Quang Nam will together join in “Thang Long - Hanoi International Tour-ism Festival 2010” in Bao Son Paradise Theme Park.The Festival is the most significant Tour-ism - Culture - Art - Media Festival in the National Tourism Year 2010 to com-

memorate the Thang Long - Ha Noi 1000th anniversary and 50 years of Vietnam Tourism. The three localities plan to host one 54m2 exhibition store where activi-ties to cheer up and attract tourists will take place. Besides, tourists will be given provinces’ specialties as souvenirs like lanterns, conical hats, and stone-made stuffs... Participating in the Festival, the

three localities can introduce, popularize, and propagandize their images, tourism potentialities, and available services, especially their strengths in sea tourism, cultural heritages to domestic and inter-national tourists. Moreover, travel compa-nies from Thua Thien - Hue, Da Nang and Quang Nam will have chance to talk and seek business opportunities with other domestic and international partners.

VIETNAM NEWSVIETNAM NEWS10

Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam to join tourism festival in Hanoi

http://www1.messe-berlin.de/vip8_1/website/Internet/Internet/www.itb-asia/englisch/index.html


VIETNAM NEWS 11

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has asked three provinces of Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc and Lam Dong and scientists to soon complete the dossier on Cat Tien National Park to submit UNESCO for recognition as one of the world’s natural heritage sites in September.

Cat Tien National Park is renowned as the reserve of natural resources in Vietnam with an abundance of rare, specious and endemic genes of fauna and flora, as plentiful site for scientists, domestic and foreign tourists.

It is part of the wet tropical forest complex and one of the specious natural forests re-maining in Vietnam.

The diversity of the Park has been recognized by the WWF when this international orga-nization selected the Park as one of 200 global ecological zones including the land and its water area with its well known biological diversity. Cat Tien National Park has been listed by UNESCO as the 411th biosphere Reserve Zone in the world.

Four weeks after being hailed one of the top international business destinations by the world’s largest travel guide book, The Nam Hai is taking further care of its own business by opening a sales office in Viet-nam’s capital.

The acclaimed Central Coast resort put down stakes yesterday in Hanoi at 60 Ly Thai To Street, where Senior Sales Manag-er Ms. Nguyen Thu Hang aims to increase the visibility of the property in the north by establishing relationships with govern-ment officials and community and corpo-rate leaders.

The move comes 28 days after Lonely Planet guide book revealed its top 10 dream business destinations — an elite collection that includes The Nam Hai for its “stunning villas” and proximity to the “Casuarina-brushed Montgomerie Links golf course.”

Hollywood, Ireland and Four Seasons Re-sort Maldives were among the other desti-nations to make the prestigious list.

Situated on 35 hectares of landscaped tropical gardens overlooking the East Sea, The Nam Hai is an exclusive, all-villa prop-erty featuring 60 one-bedroom villas and 40 pool villas ranging from one to five bed-rooms, each with its own infinity pool.

Signature features of The Nam Hai include two gourmet restaurants; a tropical spa beside a lagoon; three beachfront swim-ming pools; four lighted hard court tennis courts; and a state-of-the-art boardroom that accommodate up to 50 people.

For more information about The Nam Hai, visit www.thenamhai.com. To contact Ms. Hang, call +84 4 3930 6399 or email [email protected].

Cat Tien National Park to be soon for submission UNESCO

Nam Hai sets up sales office in Hanoi

mailto: [email protected]

days to come


1,000 years of Thang Long - Hanoi

A iming to avoid jams during the great festival of the 1,000th an-niversary of Thang Long - Hanoi, traffic on streets around

Hoan Kiem Lake and Ba Dinh Square will be banned on October 1st and 10th. Under the direction of Mr. Nguyen Van Khoi, Deputy Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, the city’s Department of Transport will set up plans for the circulation of vehicles during the three important ceremonies to welcome the great festival. Accordingly, at the opening ceremony of the festival at the Statue of Ly Thai To on October 1st, traffic will be banned on streets: Hang Gai, Hang Hanh, Hang Trong, Hang Khay, Ba Trieu, Hang Bai, Hai Ba Trung, Ngo Quyen, Tran Nguyen Han, Lo Su, Cau Go, and Hang Dao. Private vehicles of representatives and people will be kept outside the banned region. During the parade ceremony at Ba Dinh Square in the morning of

October 10th, only vehicles for the parade and representatives are allowed on the streets: Nguyen Thai Hoc, Le Hong Phong, Hoang Hoa Tham, Thuy Khue, Quan Thanh, Phan Dinh Phung, Nguyen Tri Phuong, Dien Bein Phu, Tran Phu, and Hoang Dieu. During the closing ceremony in the My Dinh National Stadium on the evening of October 10th, traffic on streets around the stadium will be banned. The Hanoi People’s Committee said that autos and motorbikes from the outskirts will have to stop at car parks and move to the city by public vehicles. The Hanoi Department of External Affairs said more than 200 autos will be mobilized to receive heads of state and 41 foreign delega-tions to the great festival of the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi. Moreover, the city will also welcome 62 delegations from other provinces and cities.

Hanoi’s streets to be banned during the capital’s great festival

All 1,000 Thang Long dragons showcased on August 29 in the Thang Long Royal Citadel.

These dragons are cast by pure bronze, with two ruby-made eyes, based on the dragon symbolizing the Ly Dynasty. Each dragon is 3-3.5kg in weight and numbered 1 to 1000, with a certificate of origin.They are specially produced for the capital city’s 1000th anniver-sary. The Italian Ambassador Andrea Perugini became the first person to receive a Thang Long dragon. General Vo Nguyen Giap is the second.The two dragons, numbered 0001 and 1,000, will be auctioned off during a television program to raise funds for the Vietnam Asso-ciation of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin on September 26.

The TV program, Rong Thieng Ngan Nam (Holy Dragons of a Thousand Years), will be broadcast from Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature) in Hanoi.The numbers 0001 and 1,000 attached to the two dragons are linked to two historic events, the year King Ly Thai To issued a royal proclamation to move the capital from Hoa Lu in present day Ninh Binh Province to Thang Long, now Hanoi, and the 1,000th an-niversary of Thang Long.The other 998 items are being auctioned off via email [email protected] or on www.rongthanglong.vn until August 30, while others will be given as gifts during the anniversary events.

1000 Thang Long Dragons showcased towards 1000th anniversary of Hanoi

days to come



VIETNAM NEWS


A concert took place in the Hanoi Opera House on Septem-ber 2 to mark 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi with the aim at helping the audience learn more about Hanoi’s history and honour the people who contributed to national development in the new era. During the concert, domestic and overseas Vietnamese singers performed a number of well-known pieces on Hanoi by famous musicians such as Van Cao, Nguyen Dinh Thi, Do Nhuan, Dam Linh, Nguyen Van Quy and Tran Manh Hung.

A period about the history of Thang Long - Hanoi will be taught at all schools in Hanoi right after the opening ceremony of the new school year 2010-2011. According to Hanoi Department of Education and Training, this pe-riod aims to help students grasp the most basic knowledge about the development and tradition of Thang Long - Hanoi’s history and culture; improve the awareness of building a civilized capital to-wards the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi. The Hanoi Department of Education and Training asked schools and educational centers to give instructions to teachers and educa-tional workers and create conditions for them to collect documents and photos for the lesson.

History of Thang Long – Hanoi to be taught in Hanoi

Concert marks 1,000th years of Thang Long-Hanoi

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank-ing Corporation in Vietnam (HSBC) launched a programme to collect a thousand best wishes on 30 August to mark the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.For each chosen wish, HSBC will do-nate 500,000 VND to a scholarship fund of Tuoi Tre Newspaper. By the end of the project, a total of 500 mil-lion VND will be granted to 100 dis-advantaged students to cover their living and study expenses. Ton That Anh Vu, a senior officer of HSBC, said that HSBC would like to convey Vietnamese citizens’ best wishes for prosperity and develop-ment on the millennial birthday of the capital city, and the program would bring about practical benefits in train-ing young generations. The event will last until 24 September. All Vietnamese citizens who wish to join the program can visit the web-site http://www.ngandieuuoc.com/ or send email to [email protected] for registration.

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days to come



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INTERNATIONAL NEWS


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Tourist arrivals increased 13.8% in the first seven months of this year, despite the political protests that blighted the country earlier this year. According to official data, 8.76 million visited Thailand in the seven months, compared to 7.7 million in the same period last year. The performance was driven by regional markets including China, which saw a 48% surge in arrivals to just over 561,000. Korean arrivals grew 26% to 445,000. Thailand is targeting 15 million tourist arrivals for full-year 2010, compared to 14 million in 2009.

Eco-friendly buses which have been used to transport visitors to and from the World Expo in Shang-hai will soon be deployed in Hong Kong. The Shanghai Daily reported yesterday that the zero emission ve-hicles are undergoing tests in Kow-loon, and are likely to be integrated into the city’s transport system.

The online travel market in India has gone through “tremen-dous growth”, evolving such that it has attracted new players and investors both nationally and overseas.

A recent Netscribes report on the online travel industry, found that India’s online travel market has grown in line with people’s ability to access the internet, the rising prosperity of India’s growing middle class and the availability of secure payment mechanisms.

“Online travel contributes 70 per cent of all e-commerce activities globally,” Netscribes said.

The report revealed that while online railway bookings have become the preferred segment in online travel, a key role for online travel agents (OTAs) was still as a “preferred search tool for checking fares and ticket availability”.

Pointing to travel trends which show a growing emergence of corporate travel packages, new travel information portals backed by OTAs, booming religious tourism and medical tourism, the report found that new players were entering the market, growing the online travel industry further.

Visitor arrivals to Singapore increased 24.1% to reach 1,095,000 in July 2010, the highest total ever recorded in the month of July. It marks the first time that visitor ar-rivals have exceeded one million in a single month. The growth was led by visitors from mainland China (+62.8%), Malaysia (+52.6%), and Hong Kong (+39.9%) and driven by the attractions of the new Integrated Resorts & the Great Singapore Sale.

The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) has announced the addition of two new hotels in the Asia Pacific region. In Australia, The Observa-tory Hotel (pictured) is located near Sydney’s harbour area, some with views of Observatory Hill, the inner harbour of Walsh Bay or Darling Harbour. In China meanwhile, LHW has welcomed the Fuchun Resort, Hangzhou. The 106-room property is divided between the main lake-side buildings and the more remote villas and a golf course.

Thailand tourism arrivals rise 13.8%

Expo green buses to be used in HK

online travel market grows

India

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Singapore arrivals ex-ceed one million mark

LHW welcomes new ho-tels in Australia, China

http://www.la-residence-hue.com/


INTERNATIONAL NEWSINTERNATIONAL NEWS 17

Spending on foreign Visa-branded pay-ment cards in Singapore jumped 38 per-cent to S$154 million (US$113.6 million) during the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, according to data from Visa.

Meranda Chan, Country Manager, Sin-gapore and Brunei, Visa, said: Singapore proved to be a wonderful host of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games. Not only did young athletes from around the world benefit from this world-class competition – Singapore saw a number of benefits as well. The IOC estimates that more than two billion people saw Singapore dur-ing the Games telecasts, and our local economy received a major boost as well. We’ve also seen a strong showing for our Visa Prepaid cards, with nearly 50,000 ac-tive cards and close to S$1 million in card

top-ups during the Games.

Visa spending data indicates the top spenders by country during the Games were:

1. USA2. Indonesia3. Australia4. Malaysia5. UK6. Japan7. China8. Hong Kong, China9. India10. Thailand

More than S$11 million (US$8.3 mil-lion) was spent by international visitors to Singapore on Visa-branded payment

cards on the Opening Day of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. The amount spent by visitors on their Visa Credit, Debit and Prepaid cards on 14 August 2010, showed an increase of nearly 50 percent over the same day in 2009.

For the first time at an Olympic Games, Visa Prepaid cards were issued with all Games tickets. In addition to providing access to public transport, the Visa Pre-paid card offered young fans, athletes and accredited officials a convenient cashless way to make purchases.

Visa has been a worldwide sponsor of the Olympic Games for 24 years and was the only card accepted at Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games comp.

online travel market grows

Youth Olympics boosts Singapore spending - Visa

www.brandsavvy.com.vn

INTERNATIONAL NEWS


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“Condé Nast Traveler World Savers Congress” to be held in Singapore

INTERNATIONAL NEWS


Global leaders from the travel industry and non-profit organisations will meet in Singapore in October, when the Condé Nast Traveler World Savers Congress is held outside the United States for the first time.

The event, will be held at the Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre on 20 October, and will discuss initiatives to limit the environmental impact of tourism, and to improve the health, education and economic well-being of communities worldwide.

Driven by the belief that the travel industry has tremendous power to create positive change, the first three events were held in New York and featured a range of high profile speakers including Queen Rania of Jordan, actors Matt Damon and Ed Norton, musician Wyclef Jean and actress and activist Ashley Judd.

This year’s World Savers Congress will also feature a powerful international speaker line-up and is expected to attract an audience of more than 250 CEOs and senior executives across the global and regional travel industry. Some of the confirmed panelists include:

- Greg Dogan – President & CEO, Shangri-la Hotels & Resorts- Ho Kwon Ping – Executive Chairman, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts- Hubert Joly – President, CEO and Director, Carlson- Lee Tabler, CEO, Abu Dhabi Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC)- Sonu Shivdasani – Chairman & CEO, Six Senses Spas & Resorts- William Heinecke – Chairman & CEO, Minor International

Winners of the 2010 Condé Nast Traveler World Savers Awards will also be honored at the congress. These are travel companies from around the world hailed for their leader-ship in social responsibility in five key areas: education, environmental and/or cultural preservation, health, poverty relief, and wildlife conservation.

“There is nothing fringe any longer about corporate social responsibility in the travel industry - more and more companies are engaged in truly creative, deep thinking about how they can make a difference in the communities and environments in which they operate,” said Klara Glowczewska, Editor in Chief, Condé Nast Traveler. “Real visionar-ies have emerged among the travel industry leaders - especially in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, but elsewhere as well. It’s exciting to see this level of commitment and action. Yes, with these awards we recognize forward-thinking members of the travel industry; but the biggest winners are travel consumers - never before have we had so many at once fabulous and sustainable travel options to choose from. It’s very exciting to see this hap-pening.”

This year’s congress will also include five feature panel sessions. Examples include a CEO Travel Industry Panel, a panel exploring Success Stories of NGOs and others focus-ing on initiatives by global travel industry leaders, Poverty Relief & Education, Health, and Preservation & Conservation. The panelists for these sessions feature executives from Anantara, Banyan Tree, Carlson, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Royal Caribbean, Shangri-La, Six Senses Resorts & Spas, and more.

19INTERNATIONAL NEWS

“Condé Nast Traveler World Savers Congress” to be held in Singapore

INTERNATIONAL NEWS


20

InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa has taken luxury to a new level in Fiji with the official opening of the resort’s new Club InterContinental – the only offering of its kind in the region.

Set apart from the rest of the resort, atop a hill overlooking Natadola Bay, Club InterContinental offers seasoned travel-lers the exclusivity of a resort within a resort. Surrounding its private infinity pool and lounge area are 55 hilltop suites all with luxurious Cleopatra baths and many featuring private plunge pools.

“There is no place like Club InterContinental anywhere on the main island of Fiji,” said InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa general manager, Scott Williams.

“We have created an elevated standard of luxury and service that visitors to our shores will not have experienced before. The opening of Club InterContinental marks a first for Fiji and offers a luxury hideaway to those seeking discretion while holidaying.”

Access to Club InterContinental also includes a 24-hour personalised butler service, complimentary internet access, luxurious Pure Fiji products, breakfast in a choice of three stunning venues, afternoon tea and evening cocktails with canapés each evening.

InterCon Fiji opens Club InterContinental


INTERNATIONAL NEWS 21

Cunard Line has announced that Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth will name their new Cunard, Queen Eliz-

abeth, in a ceremony on 11 October 2010.According to the company, the naming of the cruise liner is “a milestone in British maritime history” and “a major event of worldwide interest”.“The naming of a Cunard Queen is a very special occasion and this will be an historic event in the true sense of the word,” Cunard President and Managing Director Peter Shanks said.“The Queen launched Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1967 and named our current flagship, Queen Mary 2, in 2004. “We are both honoured and proud that Her Majesty will name our new liner Queen Elizabeth.” The Queen Elizabeth (the ocean liner, not the person) will be the second largest ever built and will be the third Cunard Queen to bear the name Elizabeth.The newly names ship will set sail on her maiden voyage on 12 October 2010.

The Amazing Thailand Grand Sale 2010 con-cluded on a positive note with a total spend of US$624 million by foreign Visa cardholders during the two month Grand Sale, a four per-cent increase on the same period in 2009.

The US$624 million total spend came from more than 2.6 million transactions on foreign Visa-branded cards. The spending figures show shoppers have increased the amount spent per transaction compared to last year, signaling strong signs of recovery in the tour-ism and retail industries following the political upheaval earlier this year.

Visa cardholders from the United Kingdom, US and Australia were the top three spenders and the top three spend categories were lodg-ing, retail and remaining merchants, which in-cludes lifestyle and services businesses.

Somboon Krobteeranon, Country Manager, Thailand, Visa said: “As the preferred partner for the Amazing Thailand Grand Sale 2010, we are delighted to see strong results from the Grand Sale which has helped the tourism industry in Thailand. This year is more impor-tant than ever as the country’s tourism indus-try aims to restore international confidence. Visa is committed to putting Thailand back at the top of the list of premier shopping destina-tions in Asia and the Amazing Thailand Grand Sale was a tremendous opportunity to demon-strate that.”

In support of Thailand’s tourism and retail in-dustries, Visa worked with merchants through-

out Thailand to enhance the shopping experi-ence at this year’s Sale, and Visa cardholders enjoyed attractive promotions, special prizes and a host of other special benefits.

Suraphon Svetasreni, Governor, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said, “We have worked closely with Visa for this year’s cam-paign and the results are very encouraging. We are delighted to see that tourist arrivals numbers are picking up again and we are confident Thailand will soon regain its attrac-tiveness as a top tourist destination.”

The collaboration marked Visa’s 12th year as the preferred partner for the Amazing Thai-land Grand Sale, and demonstrated Visa’s commitment to helping retailers and busi-nesses get back on track, stimulating inbound tourism traffic and encouraging commerce throughout the country. The Amazing Thai-land Grand Sale 2010 ran from 15 June until 15 August 2010.

Top 10 contributors to visitor spending in Thailand during the Grand Sale, as measured by spending on Visa-branded payment cards were:1. United Kingdom2. USA3. Australia4. Japan5. Norway6. France7. United Arab Emirates8. Sweden9. Singapore

Thailand gets Grand Sale spending boost

Queen to name new Cunard ship after herselfQueen to name new Cunard ship after herself

INTERNATIONAL NEWS


Greener Future for Costa Cruises

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS


Costa Cruises is taking part in the REPCET (Real Time Plotting of Ce-taceans) project to help conserve

the marine environment and demonstrate its devotion to sustainable tourism.

Last month, Costa Pacifica became one of the first cruise ships in the world to take part in the REPCET project, a reporting system promoted by WWF Italy that aims to reduce collisions between ship and whales while tracking their movements. By collaborating with JRC (Joint Research Centre of the European Commission), Costa Pacifica will be the location of a new series of important atmospheric measure-ments for monitoring climate change in the Mediterranean.

While operating in accordance with the prevailing laws, Costa Cruises also seeks to preempt new legislation in various terms, including management of ship-board waste, water discharge, energy and fuel consumption.

Shipboard Waste Management

Shipboard waste management is one of Costa Cruises’ top environmental pri-orities. Sorting for recycling is applied to 100% of solid waste on board Costa Cruis-es ships, and a ban is in place to control overboard discharge of any solid waste except food waste. When it comes to daily amenities prepared for onboard guests, a number of practices have been deployed such as using plates and cups made of bio-degradable material.

Water Discharge

In terms of waste water, Costa’s policy is considerably more restrictive than the rel-evant legislative regulations in force. For in-stance, Costa Cruises does not permit dis-posal of untreated sewage at sea and only allows treated sewage to be discharged at a distance greater than 12 miles from the nearest land whilst international maritime legislation requires only three miles from

the nearest land for the discharge of treat-ed sewage.

Energy and Fuel Consumption

Costa Cruises achieved a 5% reduction in fuel consumption per mile traveled; a 5% reduction in consumption of potable water per person; 30% of special waste recycled, and an 8.5% reduction in the quantity of garbage.

Costa Deliziosa is equipped for “cold iron-ing”, namely a system whereby the ship is plugged into shoreside electrical power, enabling generators to be shut down dur-ing stopovers in port. This is a way of fur-ther reducing the environmental impact of liners when they call at ports. Joining Costa Deliziosa in the “cold ironing” green at-tempts are Costa Luminosa and the brand new Costa Favolosa scheduled for launch in July 2011.

Greener Future for Costa Cruises

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS


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http://itehcmc.com/2010/

INTERNATIONAL NEWS


http://www.travelweekly.com.vn/

AVIATION NEWS


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Malaysia has scrapped its visa-on-arrival (VOA) policy, Im-migration Department of Malaysia officials announced.

Visitors will now have to apply for visas at a Malaysian High Commission, embassy or consulate nearest them.

Nationals of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka are still allowed to enter visa free but only up to five days and under certain terms and conditions. They must show a con-firmed air ticket and possess valid visit visas to any of these countries: Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Ko-rea, Taiwan or the US.They must arrive on Malaysia Airlines or AirAsia and only on confirmed group tour packages to any of the countries mentioned twinned with Malaysia. The point of entry and exit was restricted to Kuala Lumpur International Airport or the nearby Low-Cost Carrier Terminal.Tan Sri Dato’ Haji Muhyiddin bin Mohd Yassin, Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister, said that previously they had offered the service to several nations but had increasingly noticed “that this VOA was being abused”.

Myanmar has also made it known that from September 1, 2010, it would likewise suspend issuing visas on arrival, a move, which political observers believed, was aimed at re-stricting the entry of the foreign press during the upcoming general elections.

Malaysia scraps visa on arrival policy

AVIATION NEWS


Northwest Airlines’ plea agreement over price-fixing in the air-car-go market was approved by a federal judge late last week, requir-ing the airline to pay a US$38 million fine.Prosecutors charged that Northwest Airlines Cargo had conspired to fix air-cargo rates in the US and overseas from July 2004 to Feb-ruary 2006, Bloomberg reported.Northwest Airlines Cargo earned more than US$80 million from air cargo services between the U.S. and Japan during the time cov-ered by the plea agreement, the Justice Department said.The plea agreement is part of a Justice Department investigation of price-fixing in global air-cargo shipments that has netted more than $1.6 billion in fines.“The company has accepted responsibility fully,” US judge John D. Bates said during the sentencing in Washington, adding that it “has shown a great deal of responsibility.”Northwest Airlines is now part of Delta Air Lines, with its cargo division no longer operational.

Northwest fixes price of US$38m for price-fixing

Passengers flying Singapore Airlines (SIA) from Singapore can ex-pect to pay more for their tickets from October 1, 2010.An Economy class seat could cost S$200 (US$148) more, while pre-mium seats could cost up to S$1,000 (US$743) more.An airline spokesperson said that global demand for air travel neces-sitated SIA’s third hike since April. Prices vary from route to route, depending on the market, and a range of prices offered in different booking classes is available, he said. It is expected that other car-riers operating in Singapore will follow suit in raising fares to pre-recession levels.

Local travel agents have noticed that traffic is picking up both ways, with residents leaving the country and visitors arriving, eager to see Singapore’s new slew of attractions such as the Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa complex. In July, foreign arrivals to the Lion City were recorded at over a million.The overall travel picture looks bright. The International Air Transport Association (Iata), representing about 230 carriers, noted that in July, Asia-Pacific carriers outperformed the industry average with a 10.9 per cent growth in passenger traffic against that of a year earlier.

Singapore Airlines to raise fares on October 1

27


AVIATION NEWS34

The country’s flag carrier, Vietnam Air-lines, has announced it will slash fares on domestic flights by 50 percent from September 15 to October 30.The heavily discounted rates will in-clude routes coming from the capital, Hanoi and the financial center, Ho Chi Minh City. The discounted prices will range from VND400,000 to VND860,000 per flight following the routes below:• HanoitoVinh• HoChiMinhCity/PhuQuoctoCan Tho/Rach Gia• HoChiMinhCitytoNhaTrang/Dalat• Hanoi/HoChiMinhCitytoDaNagn/Hue/Tam Ky• DanangtoDalat• Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City/Buon Me Thuot/Dalat/Nha Trang/Quy Nhon/Tuy Hoa, Can Tho• Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh/Haiphong/Dong HoiThe airline is currently state owned al-though there are pending plans to open the company to private investment eventually. The company was estab-lished in 1989 with hubs located at Noi Bai International Airport and Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

Cuts Domestic Fares by 50 Percent


AVIATION NEWS 29

Air France is landing on new grounds launch-ing the first ever Air France A380 aircraft on route to Asia.The European airline have kick started their expansion into the Asian market with the Airbus A380 departing from Paris Charles de Gaulle at 13:30 and expected to arrive in Tokyo Narita at 8:10 local time, tomorrow morning.The Paris-Tokyo route will be Air France’s third route served by the A380 after Paris-New York and Paris- Johannesburg. The airline will fly three times weekly to Tokyo and is expected to commence daily flights from 5 October 2010.The A380’s are equipped with 538 seats in three cabin classes as well as changing light-ing moods to match various stages of the flight as well as new in flight wider screen entertain-ment systems. Air France have ordered 12 Air-bus A380’s with four already in service. Air France will operate 52 weekly return flights between Paris, Amsterdam and Japan from Winter 2010.

breaks new territory in AsiaA

ir F

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AVIATION NEWS


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Singapore Airlines and Tourism Western Austra-lia (TWA) have signed a Memorandum of Under-standing (MOU) to jointly promote tourism to West-ern Australia.The three-year partner-ship sees a joint funding of marketing campaigns and the active promo-tion of inbound tourism to Western Australia off the back of the carrier’s Singapore-Perth services, the airline announced in a release on Wednesday, 1 September.“We are privileged to work with TWA and the forming of this strategic partnership is testament to our strong commitment to the Australian market. With Singapore Airlines’ extensive network, I am confident that we will en-courage more visitors to see the beautiful sights and attractions Western Australia has to offer,” Singapore Airlines’ Ex-

ecutive Vice President, Marketing and the Re-gions, Goh Choon Phong said.The focus in the first year would be on three key international markets for Western Australia - Ger-many, Singapore and China, TWA’s acting CEO Stephanie Buckland said.“Our Experience Extraor-dinary campaign ties perfectly in with these markets because visitors from these countries seek something a little differ-ent,” Ms Buckland said.“Nowhere else in Austra-lia can you find a city with 3,000 hours of sunshine per year or visit one of Lonely Planet’s top ten regions of the world - Australia’s South West.”Currently, Singapore Air-lines operates a total of 93 weekly flights to five ma-jor cities across Australia, including 18 weekly ser-vices to Perth.

Singapore Airlines joins Tourism WA to boost visitors


AVIATION NEWS 31

South Korea introduced ad-ditional security in 22 airports and ports nationwide to pre-vent suspected criminals and those with fake documents from entering.

The new measure is being im-plemented ahead of the G-20 Seoul Summit in November.

Fingerprint scan and a facial recognition programme will be used on visitors, who have similar profiles with global terrorists, carry stolen or sus-picious passports, or show an unusual travel itinerary such as those who have transited from other cities before landing in Korea or those who carry one-way tickets that are paid for in cash.The collected data will be

compared with a Justice Min-istry database, containing fin-gerprints of 230,000 foreigners with criminal records. Those with criminal histories or fig-ure on the Interpol criminal watch list will be deported.

South Korea has been beefing up border security with full-body scanners also expected to go online in four of its inter-national airports in October

The heightened security will remain in place even after the G-20 conference. All foreign visitors, except for diplomats, are expected to undergo fin-gerprint scan and facial image capture from June next year.

launches stringent security screeningSouth Korea

MEDICAL TOURISM


38

Country Overview Romania is a country with a reputation for its scenery and land-scapes, its Medieval fortified villages and castles, its painted mon-asteries and the Danube Delta – the third largest biodiversity in the world – to list just a few of its attractions on the UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The country has been under a communist regime for half a cen-tury, since World War II, until 1989 – so private development only started around 20 years ago. As expected, the country has seen a slow start, and most of the businesses only really developed in the late 90s and the beginning of the new millennia. The capital city, Bucharest, regarded as “little Paris” in the 1920s, is still expanding rapidly and while most people will say it gets too crowded, the traffic is too loud and the people are always in a rush; it’s only fair to say it resembles any large metropolis in Europe (around 3 mil-lion people call Bucharest home).

However, the country’s real treasures lie further up north, in Tran-sylvania, one of the three historical provinces in Romania. In be-tween myth (Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula) and reality (the Roma-nian Medieval ruler Vlad Tepes) lies southern Transylvania and the area around Brasov, the biggest city in southern Transylvania. Being an area dominated by mountains and forests, the fresh clean air, the quietness of the surroundings and the relaxing view of tall peaks surrounding Brasov make this the perfect spot for rest and relaxation – just what the medical tourist needs after any sort of intervention.

Quick Country Facts• MemberoftheEUsince2007–EUcitizensdonotrequirea Visa.

• UScitizensdonotrequireaVisaifthey’restayingforlessthan 90 days.

• CurrencyusediscalledLei(RON)

• You’llgetabout410Leifor100Euroand330Leifor100USdollars

• Fullfancydinnerfortwoincludingdrinksandtipswillsetyoubackaround200Lei(50Euro/70USdollars).

• Warmsummers/cold-snowywinters

• Romaniahasmanyairports,butthemostusedformedi-cal tourists are Bucharest Otopeni (OTP) and Bucharest Baneasa (BBU) due to their close proximity to Brasov and Bucharest.

By Andrei Radomir

Quality Medical Holidays in RomaniaQuality Medical Holidays in RomaniaWherever you’re from, you’re bound to love it here! Romania is a country like no other, always surprising. It’s a country of contrasts, with vast culture and amazing history. The place where new meets old, history meets modern, yet the people are the same for thou-sands of years – sincere and welcoming. Quality ‘medical holidays’ is a concept that the Romanian Medical Tourism market has been developing for quite some time. Read on to understand why Roma-nia is showing so much potential in the Medical Tourism industry.

MEDICAL TOURISM


33

Treatment in RomaniaRomanian doctors are renowned worldwide for their professionalism. The schools of medicine in Bucha-rest, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Targu Mures and Iasi carry-on the prestige and tradition of teaching Roma-nianand foreignstudents forover150yearsof suc-cessful graduates, proof of the level of education and thoroughness of medical professionals in Romania. While the public health sector in Romania is lacking in some areas, the private sector is already on the level expected in an EU-member state. Since the end of the ‘90s private hospitals have been opening up around the country, clinics have been growing and modern-izing, while the professionalism of the medical act has been certified according to the EU’s standards of practice and ISO quality standards in most private clinics.

Romania is an upcoming destination for medical tour-ism. Even though the country has relatively few years of experience in running medical services for tourists, the professionalism of the doctors, the high-quality treatments and the last-generation equipped private clinics place Romanian Medical Tourism in the top destinations of Eastern Europe. The Medical Tourism market in Romania has rapidly grown over the last two years. It is now estimated that around 100,000 foreign patients travel into Romania every year to receive medical treatment. Granted, some of the patients in the estimate are Romanian expats returning on holi-day – the increase in foreign patients has been a large factor in the developing of concepts such as “medical holidays”. While most of the patients come over to Ro-mania for dentistry or plastic surgery, the spa sector is close behind with world renowned thermal springs and salty baths.

Romanian dentists, and generally speaking all doctors, adhere to very high standards of work and this is due to the prestige of the Romanian School of Medicine, which has given valuable graduates over the years. That is why dental and eye care clinics in Romania can easily rival many of the western standard clinics.

While Bucharest may boast the largest number of clin-ics offering services to foreign patients, some other places in the country will focus on the overall medical tourist experience, or the “medical holiday”. Facilita-tors in places like Brasov, Cluj-Napoca or Timisoara can easily help the tourist book an entire experience. On average, a treatment can begin within two weeks of booking, while treatment visits can take place ev-ery day, especially when speaking of dentistry.

MEDICAL TOURISM


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Medical treatment is key to any travelling patient, and the tourism part cannot be ignored especially in a destination famous for tour-ist landmarks. While Romania won’t boast the same sort of attrac-tions that France or Italy would, the history along with the natural environment in Romania will make this destination a great pick for any medical tourist. The novelty of a concept such as a “medical holiday” is in the fact that apart from booking a hotel and an ap-pointment with a clinic, the patient can have an entire “all inclusive” package of trips and sightseeing which is tailor made to suit their treatment. While an esthetic surgery patient may need a lot of rest and relaxation, a dental patient may sometimes embrace a more ac-tive holiday – after the treatment sessions one can book anything from private sightseeing tours to spa or beauty treatments in one of the many salons and parlors.

Moreover, once the right facilitator is found, which is usually a dedi-

cated Medical Tourism agency, patients will be able to keep up to date with the latest news on treatment types (be it dentistry, laser eye surgery, cosmetic or orthopedic surgery), and get acquainted with the procedures and prices from a variety of certified private clinics. The main benefit of using a facilitator is the opportunity for the patient to browse through various clincs’ offers before choosing the one that perfectly suits their needs. A Medical Tourism facilita-tor will always know that distance (even if it is a short one) is an issue for any traveling patient. Therefore the concept of extended guarantee arose successfully, (apart from regular insurance that brokers now sell to medical tourists) some facilitators offering it as a bonus – covering flights and accommodation if there is a need in returning for remedial work. So this comes up to strengthen the fact that the Romanian Medical Tourism market offers professional ser-vices, embracing and promoting quality and guaranteed work.

Turning a Visit to the Doctor’s Into a Holiday

MEDICAL TOURISM


Most Sought After Treatments in RomaniaDentistry

There are plenty of private dental clinics to choose from. While some of them will be cozy and warm, others will resemble a hospital rather than an art gallery. The size of private dentistry practices ranges from a one doctor’s office to dentistry clin-ics with more than 20 doctors. Patients can expect to find that larger clinics will also carry their own technician’s laboratory. Generally speaking, all private dental practices are very well equipped as funding for upgrading dentistry clinics is easily available. Cosmetic dentistry in Romania is often appealing to traveling patients due to the low price. Romania achieves 30% to40%ofWesternEuropeanpriceswithoutsacrificingqual-ity of materials due to low taxation of dentistry, lower salaries in the field and also the fact that a lot of clinics were funded through non-refundable grants.

Plastic Surgery

Plastic surgery clinics are mainly found in larger cities around Romania. Along with the boom in business came the people’s desire to enhance or remodel their look. Most of the clinics in Romania are thoroughly discussing surgery with the potential clients in order to clarify the reasons for such a surgery. It is not uncommon in Romania for a clinic to refuse to handle a patient because the purpose for the client’s surgery cannot be fulfilled. Doctors will say: “There’s no need to undergo sur-gery” or “The surgery will not solve your issue” to the patient, if the outcome of the surgery might bring an unnatural ‘look’. Each particular human is physically different and cosmetic sur-geries are meant to improve one’s aspect, not to “force, by any means, a “plastic” improvement. Most of the private clin-ics which offer plastic surgery are inpatient facilities. Modern clinics and well trained staff are a common thing in plastic sur-gery clinics across Romania.

Laser Eye Surgery (Ophthalmology)

Eye care is regarded as very important to the Romanians. It’s widespread knowledge that one can purchase affordable glasses in Eastern Europe, however few people realize just how far Romania has come in terms of more delicate proce-dures such as eye surgery. Since surgery is the only way to solve cataracts, private eye surgery clinics have developed in some of the major cities in Romania. With top quality equip-ment and excellently trained doctors and nurses, what is a crucial surgery becomes a 20 minute microscopic interven-tion where the patient goes home on the same day. Also, pric-esforthesesortsofinterventionsareregularly30%to35%ofWestern European prices.

Orthopedic Surgery

Hip and knee surgery has been done in Romanian hospitals for a considerably long time. Orthopedic surgeons are now moving into the private area due to an increase in the num-ber of private clinics opening up throughout the country. Most of the clinics have been thought out as private hospitals, with luxury wards, excellent care and attention to each patient. As these surgeries are more complex, they require a lot more aftercare, so patients will be spending a couple of nights in the clinic, admitted and closely monitored. Prices for orthopedic surgery in Romania aregenerally 40% to 60% cheaper thanWestern Europe.

Spa and Wellness Treatments

Spa and wellness closely follow dentistry and plastic surgery as the main motivator for patients traveling to Romania. The spa wellness centers are mostly related to natural springs either thermal or salted. Spa centers around the country resemble private resorts where patients receive treatment while living on site. Some of the best known places, which are associated with spa services are Calimanesti, Caciulata, Olanesti, Eforie Nord, Eforie Sud, Govora, Felix, Herculane, Slanic Moldova, Tusnad. Many tourists choose these places for diseases relat-ed to: the locomotor system, rheumas, neurologic, peripheric and orthopedic – traumatic, cardiovascular system, gyneco-logical diseases, respiratory system, endocrine system, dis-eases of the skin, digestive system and annexed glands, nutri-tion disorders, neurosis.

To sum up, private clinics in Romania are easily comparable to any Western European clinic in terms of the quality of ser-vices, the attention to patients and of course the level of the medical act. Price is another important factor for patients who decide to have treatment in Romania: procedures are usually 70%lowerthanthosepracticedinWesternEuropeandforeignpatientswillregularlysavemorethan50%whenaddingonac-commodation, airplane ticket and sightseeing trips. Another popularity factor facilitating Romania’s access into the top des-tinations for Medical Tourism is the lack of waiting lists.

Welcome to Romania!

35

BUSINESS ADVICE


For most of us, one of the most important considerations when plan-ning a vacation is the cost. If going to Europe or taking a cruise, it is critical to book your trip during the off-season--generally fall through early spring--to save on airfare, cruise and hotel costs. But once you reach your destination, no matter the season, there are ways to mini-mize spending without sacrificing any of the fun.

1, Plan for your vacation at least 1 - 2 months in advance - this way you will get the best rates for hotels & air fare.

2, Flights which originate from a point and terminate at another point will be expensive (for example, if you want to fly from Mumbai to Helsinki, then an airline which flies from another city to Helsinki via Mumbai will be cheaper).

3, Check hostels in the cities which you plan to visit. Most leading cities across the world have cheap accommodation for leisure trav-ellers and back packers.

4, Register at your embassy in the visiting country - this will give you a lot of options and people whom you can question.

5, Always travel by the public transport - many leading tourist cities, like Singapore, have pre-loaded metro & bus passes. These passes are very convenient for internal city travel.

6, Stay in a vacation rental condo.

Tips

•Chooseadestinationwhereyoucanstaywithfriendsorfamily.•Lookintohousetradingnetworkingsiteson-line.•Walkeverywhere,ifpossible.It’sthebestwaytoexperiencetheplace where you are, not to mention healthy and cheap.•Beopenminded.•It’salwaysagoodideatofindagrocerystorenearyourhotelorhostel. Eating out gets expensive.•Talkwiththenatives.Peoplefamiliarwiththeareawillhelpyousteer clear of expensive tourist traps and have a more authentic (and less expensive) experience.•Ifyoustayinahostel, trytofindpeoplewhowanttogotothesame places. Tours and sometimes ticket prices are cheaper in groups.•Takeadvantageofwhat’sthere.Mosthostelsandcitiesofferfreetours/maps/guidebooks.•Buyyourguidebookbeforeyougettoyourdestination.Some-times you can also check them out at the library or copy pertinent pages.•Ifyou’reastudent,getaninternationalstudentIDcard.Mostmu-seums and some transportation and housing options offer student discounts.

Warnings

•Nevercarryallyourbelongings inonebagorkeepall impor-tant stuff like wallet, passport in a money belt. These can fit tightly around the waist and be nearly invisible. This is especially impor-tant when traveling on trains for long periods of time.•Carryaninternationallyacceptedcreditcard,likeMaster,Visaor American Express.•Somehotels/hostelsneedtotakeyourpassport.Thisisnormal.

By:Parth, Ben Rubenstein, Axiom, Nicole Willson

How to Save Money

When Travelling


MEDICAL TOURISM 49



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