Wednesday, March 21, 2012

TRAVEL NEWS: Banyan Tree in Kerala, India Opens on December

Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts
source: Google Images

Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts will be opening ‘Banyan Tree Kerala’, its first resort in India by December of this year.

Banyan Tree Kerala is situated in Nedithuruthu, midway between Kochi and Alleppey in the southern state of Kerala. It will feature 59 villas and one houseboat for a maximum of four guests. All villas will have two private pools – one lap pool and one regular – in addition to a common outdoor swimming pool.

The resort will also offer four meeting rooms, two F&B outlets, a kid’s club, a gym, and a spa with six treatment rooms.

Assistant Director Key Accounts of Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, Manas Sinha is quoted saying: “Our focus for Banyan Tree Kerala will be on the domestic luxury market. We are adopting a different business plan from what we practice elsewhere.”

Meanwhile, in order to boost brand recognition in the domestic market, Banyan Tree has organised a series of one-on-one meetings between high-end local tour operators and marketing representatives from its resorts in Asia, starting with one such meeting in Kolkata on March 20.

Banyan Tree opening in India is very welcome, as we now have an option to send our high-end clients to a resort within the country. This will be handy for last minute decision-making by clients, and we will not have to bother about visas as in the case of overseas destinations”, Managing Director of Gainwell Travel Leisure Kolkata, Manoj Saraf said.

Banyan Tree had just acquired a plot of land in Goa for its second property in India which will be a 50 to 60-key resort, scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Within this year, the group will be opening a total of four resorts worldwide, including two in China and one in Vietnam while 2013 will see the launch of one Angsana in Vietnam and one Banyan Tree each in China and the Philippines.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

TRAVEL NEWS: Making the Distance between Seoul and Chuncheon Closer through ITX Cheongchun High Speed Train

Seoul Korea Travel

With the operations having officially begun on February 28, 2012, at 6:00 PM, the ITX Cheongchun High-Speed Train marked the reality of faster travel from Yongsan Station in Seoul to Chuncheon in Gangwon-do Province.

As the train speeds off to 180 km/hour, passengers could expect to cover the distance between the two places in just 73 minutes. A train departs from Yongsan Station every hour, and ten minutes after, one from Chuncheon would leave.

The route intersects four stations: Cheongnyangni, Pyeongnaehopyeong, Gapyeong and Namchuncheon. During rush hours on weekdays though, every train stops at Sangbong Station in Seoul and Sareung and Maseok Stations in Namnyangju.

The double decker-train is provided with facilities assuring every passenger of utmost convenience. There are restrooms and nursing rooms for mothers.

Train tickets are sold through easily-operated ticket vending machines positioned at every station. A trip from Yongsan to Chuncheon, and back, will cost 6,900 won while a trip starting from or to Cheongnyangni will cost 6,000 won.

ITX Cheongchun High-Speed Train operates daily from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM.