Vo Huy Cuong, head of the administration’s Aviation Transport Department, said that although the administration had warned that it would revoke Indochina’s license if the airline couldn’t resume service by January 1, Indochina has made efforts to maintain its operation.

Cuong said Indochina reported its situation to the administration on December 31 and requested approval to restart flights in mid-January. The proposal was being considered, he said.

Indochina, which opened in November 2008, has postponed its plan to resume flights several times since suspending its service November last year due to both technical and financial problems. Before the suspension, it was using only one airplane on the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City route, having closed all other services since the middle of this year.

In a report published by local news website VietNamNet on Friday, Indochina Managing Director Le Hong Pho said the carrier had reached agreements with its service providers concerning its debts, reported to have reached more than VND30 billion (US$1.6 million) last year.

The carrier plans to rent two Boeing airplanes to resume both Hanoi-HCMC and HCMC-Da Nang routes for the upcoming high season before Tet, or the Lunar New Year, he said.

Source:vietnamnet.vn

It’s that time of the year again.

And as usual, many hotels and restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City are gearing up for the Christmas and New Year season with special deals and packages designed to lure customers in a very competitive market.

Some of the more attractive ones this year are at the Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon in District 1 – a favored place for year-end parties.

Many companies and families choose the restaurant in the hotel for parties of around 30 persons. At US$29 net per person, a yearend lunch or dinner buffet in the elegant Me Linh grand room, with beer and soft drinks free for two hours, the deal is very competitive.

In addition, the hotel serves special Christmas Eve cakes to customers. They can enjoy the cakes there or take them home. Other restaurants in the hotel offer different deals.

Among many other places holding parties or special events for Christmas and the New Year is the Seventeen Saloon bar.

The bar will hold a “Sparkling with colors” celebration of Christmas at 103A Pham Ngu Lao Street, District 1 and at its branch in Da Nang City. Santa Claus and the Snow Princess will welcome guests at the specially decorated bar, a choir will sing famous carols and a popular Filipino band will make Christmas Eve rock.

The bar will hold a “Happy New Year” party on December 31.

Some five-star hotels have a few surprises in store. At the Mövenpick Hotel Saigon on Nguyen Van Troi Street in Phu Nhuan District, the especially attractive package involves discounted room rates with many perks including a free Christmas Eve buffet.

The hotel will offer free Tiger beer and soft drinks for two hours on Christmas Eve, and free decorations according to the theme of the festival. The Vietnamese buffet for the festival is priced at VND396,000++ and the international buffet at VND450,000++ per person. A special menu of Christmas specialties will cost VND486,000++ per person.

If customers choose to stay at the hotel, they will get the Christmas Eve buffet free, a fruit basket, and discount of up to 20 percent on all food and beverages. From December 23 till 25 room rents will drop from the normal $179++ for a double room and $149++ for a single room to just $99++ and they can use all services at the executive lounge at no cost.

Customers can also enjoy traditional turkey, fresh seafood dishes or famous Chinese dishes and Swiss style appetizers at the hotel’s Café Saigon Restaurant.

The Christmas Eve dinner will also include a choir performance, live music and a lucky draw. Santa Claus will be on hand to distribute gifts among children. The

Christmas Eve buffet on December 24 is priced at $55++ per person.

The room rents for the New Year, though will be $189++ for a double and $149++ for a single room. Customers staying at the hotel for the New Year will be picked up and dropped off from the airport or any other location within a 10-kilometer radius.

A complimentary glass of champagne will be served by the Café Saigon Restaurant as a lucky wish for the New Year. The New Year Eve celebration on December 31 will cost $65++ per adult (half for children below 12) with free flow of cocktails, beer, wine and soft drinks.

VietNamNet Bridge – Ho Chi Minh City, the nation’s commercial and tourism hub, hopes to welcome 2.8 million foreign visitors in 2010 after posting the first decline in arrivals since 2003 this year.

La Quoc Khanh, deputy head of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the drop of 7 percent in foreign arrivals had been expected since the middle of this year, when the city’s tourism sector began to feel the effects of the economic slump and the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic.

Foreign arrivals to the city in 2009 were estimated at 2.6 million, much lower than the target of 3.1 million set earlier.

The last time the city posted a year-on-year decline in arrivals was in 2003 when the SARS epidemic hit the tourism sector in the entire region was badly affected.

Khanh said he hoped the situation would improve next year. “At first we only set a target of 2.7 million arrivals for 2010. But after tour operators and hotels reported their bookings numbers, we raised it to 2.8 million,” he said Thursday.

Overall arrivals to Vietnam in the first 11 months were down 12.3 percent. Still, the figure in November alone surged 38.6 percent from a year ago, according to the Vietnam National Tourism Administration. The administration expected arrival numbers to continue to go up from the end of this year.

Source:vietnamnet.vn