Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
fic
ial
M
ed
ia
Pa
r tn
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r:
26 Aug, 2010
07
Six Senses Hideaway Con Dao
set to open in December
36-37
10 culture and customs of Spanish
to know when travelling & living in Spain
Private Travel
38-39
How to Live in a Different Country
for a Short Time
www.travelweekly.com.vn
Off
icia
lM
ed
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Pa
rtne
r fo
r:
26 Aug, 2010
07
Six Senses Hideaway Con Dao
set to open in December
38-39
How to Live in a Different Country
for a Short Time
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AVIATION NEWS 23
28. Indonesia to build 14 new airports
Thirsty Thursday
comes to HCMC
Thirsty Thursday, Southeast Asia’s biggest tourism industry
networking event, returns to HCMC on 16 September 2010.
Work starts on Ocean US$1,8 billion invested Hanoi plans to let off fireworks
Window development in Eco-tourism project
Eurowindow Nha Trang Investment Polaris Kty Vietnam has recently on National Day
and Tourism Joint Stock Co broke broken ground for a large Eco-
ground on the Ocean Window Spa tourist project in Ky Thinh Com-
and Resort. The 34.2-ha project has mune, Ha Tinh. The Eco-tourist
VND1 trillion (US$51.28 million) in project, named Tau Voi Tourist and
investment capital. It will include Services Resort, drawing US$1,8
a five-star hotel, spa, restaurant billion in investment. Under the
and bar, shopping centre, events’ schedule, parts of the project will
centre, sports centre and beaches. be operational in 2011, while other
The resort, in central Khanh Hoa sub-projects will be wrapped up in
Province, is expected open for December 2016.
business in 2013.
HCM City hosts
German tour operators vegetarian festival
explore MICE A vegetarian festival themed “For
Tour operator Asian Trails Co will Health and the Environment” will Hanoi will organise firework displays in four locations on 2nd
organise tours for more than 300 be held in HCM City from 26-29 Au- September to celebrate the 65th anniversary of National Day.
MICE (meetings, incentives, con- gust, attracting the participation of
ventions and exhibitions) organis- famous vegetarian restaurants in the
According to Vice Director of the municipal Culture, Sports
ers from Germany who want to city and nearby localities. Nearly
look over Vietnamese destinations. 100 dishes will be introduced at and Tourism Department Nguyen Khac Loi, high-range fire-
The group, which will be here on 80 pavilions during the festival. works will be set off by Hoan Kiem Lake (Hoan Kiem District),
4-10 September, will visit Hanoi, Ha The event aims to raise public Thong Nhat Park (Hai Ba Trung District), Ly Tu Trong monu-
Long Bay, Hoi An, and HCM City. awareness of the benefits of eating ment (Tay Ho district) and Van Quan Lake (Ha Dong District).
Bui Viet Thuy Tien, managing direc- vegetarian food and is expected to
tor of Asian Trails, said Germany be held annually on the 15th day of To celebrate the August Revolution (19th August) and National
and Belgium are the company’s the seventh lunar month towards the Day as well as to mark 30 days ahead of the 1,000th anniver-
biggest customers for MICE tour- Vu Lan festival to show children’s
sary of Thang Long-Hanoi, many cultural activities will take
ism to Vietnam. gratitude to their parents.
place in the centre of the city and 29 Districts.
Thursday 26.08.2010 www.travelweekly.com.vn
VIETNAM NEWS 3
T
he course architects at Golfplan have According to Dale, because of the very
stepped up construction of 18 resort high water table, no more than 4 meters of
holes here in the Vietnamese capital. fill are allowed anywhere on the site, lest
Jeong San Vina Golf Club takes up unique that spot recede. “This is not the sort of
residence on an island in the Saigon River, project that can be improvised in the field,”
directly between the city’s expatriate dis- Dale said. “The grades of our architectural
trict and its new international airport. drawings must be extraordinarily precise,
and each green site will be supported by
The course at Jeong San Vina GC will pilings to support and reinforce elevations
stretch out along a man-made waterfront that will exceed the 4-meter limit.”
that Golfplan will outfit with a 50-meter
natural buffer and overarching tropical At the other end of the spectrum, Golfplan
garden landscape. The golf will serve as is the firm that dredged Singapore Har-
anchor to a high-rise condominium and bor to create the man-made acreage that
hotel development overlooking course, under-girds the famed Serapong Course at
river and city. Sentosa Golf Club.
“The plan is for Jeong San Vina to be very “At Sentosa, we were reclaiming mangrove
high-end but still very accessible resort swamps and a portion of Singapore Harbor,
facility, which is just what the golf culture but the exercises there - and here at Jeong
in Vietnam needs,” said Golfplan partner San Vina - are comparable,” Dale said. “We
David Dale, who expects the course to took a similar approach at Oulu Golfklubb
open for play in late 2011. “When the hotel in Finland, home of Nokia and one of the
component is finished, it will function as an northernmost golf courses in the world.
urban golf resort, and there’s nothing like There, we reclaimed peat bogs and used a
that in Ho Chi Minh City today.” geo-tech style sheeting to create a floating
pad to support the sand fill on 27 holes.
Dale and the Korean development consor- There is no need for geo-tech sheeting in
tium backing this project, Taekwang Vina Ho Chi Minh City but you can see we’re
Industrial Co. Ltd., have been poised to pretty darned experienced in engineering
begin course construction in earnest for these types of courses.”
better than a year, but a series of factors
had slowed matters until this spring. Most Jeong San Vina will play 6,595 meters
important, the bridge linking the island with from the championship tees and feature
the mainland - Ho Chi Minh City’s District a diverse mixture of bunkering, from
2, just north of downtown - was not com- enormous, sandy waste areas that tie into
pleted until March 2010. greenside hazards, to the free-standing
bunkers that dictate strategy in the fairways
In reality, Jeong San Vina’s progress was and off the tee.
additionally complicated by the extraordi-
nary engineering efforts the site requires. “It’s a beautiful finishing flourish, not
According to Dale, more than 1.5 million unlike what we created at the Serapong
cubic meters of fill were required to build Course, or what Pete Dye created at the
up the site and in some ways “create” the TPC Sawgrass in Florida,” said Dale. “But
waterfront landscape. the beauty and compelling strategy of
the golf holes must work in the context
“All of this sand was dredged from the of practical environmental matters. The
Saigon River north of our island, then trans- wetlands at Jeong San Vina, for example,
ported by boat and pumped onto the site were created so that when the river rises
in watery slurry, which is spread around to its highest point, water will be accepted
the property by a network of giant piping,” onto the course site and into this network
Dale explained. “It’s a pretty impressive of wetlands. It’s a very attractive, totally
process. There were some 20 cubic meters golf-centric form of stormwater retention
of fill per boatload. Do the math. When you capability.
do, you can understand why it’s taken two
years to complete the reclamation.” “What’s more, our lakes are set higher than
the wetlands. When the lakes overflow, they
Spreading the fill around this site, in the release into the wetland network.”
context of golf construction and shaping,
is nearly as complicated as getting it there.
Thursday 26.08.2010 www.travelweekly.com.vn
6 VIETNAM NEWS
short-day tours
75% of visitors and the number of tourists
during this special holiday is expected to
increase by 15% in comparison with the
same period last year.
Destinations are Hong Kong (China), Ma-
laysia, Singapore, the Republic of Korea,
Cambodia and Taiwan.
Ms. Doan Thanh Tra, a representative
from the Saigontourist, said that the com-
pany introduced 35 inbound tours and 12
outbound tours, departing on 30th August
and the company expects to attract 2,500
tourists. Nearly 1,000 tourists have to date
registered for tours to Thailand, Singa-
pore, Cambodia and Hong Kong (China).
Meanwhile, inbound tours to Sa Pa lures
more tourists than tours to the sea due to
stormy weather during that time, accord-
ing to Ms. Duong Mai Lan, the head of the
Vietravel Hanoi Market Development Re-
search Department.
Ms. Lan added that the number of tourists
is expected to rise thanks to various pro-
motion tours in August such as “Thousand
years of Thang Long-Hanoi” (a discount
of 30%) or tours to Thailand and China (15
to 20% discount).
Czech Cultural
istration of Tourism (VNAT) said nearly 140
contestants from 26 provinces and cities na-
tionwide will join a contest to select best hotel
The Hanoi Children Palace will join the Palace expressed the hope that follow- The event, which will be held from 12nd -15th
Prague Arts Troupe from the Czech Re- ing the programme, his palace would September in Hanoi, is part of activities to cel-
ebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-
public to host a series of events to mark cooperate with its Czech counterparts
Hanoi and National Tourism Year-Hanoi 2010.
the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long- to organise exchanges between the two
It aims to honour outstanding receptionists
Hanoi. countries’ children to enhance mutual un- who have contributed to improving the quality
derstanding and assistance. of tourism services.
The ten-day programme which will last
on 10 October will include a painting ex- The Czech friends have helped built the The qualifying rounds, which include profes-
hibition, a water puppetry, a concert and palace which has become a major centre sional skills and foreign languages, will take
a Czech traditional gastronomic festival. for cultural and sports activities for Ha- place in Hanoi from 12nd - 14th September. The
noian children. top ten contestants will go on to enter the final
Le Quang Tuan, Vice Director of the round scheduled for 15th September.
Thursday 26.08.2010 www.travelweekly.com.vn
VIETNAM NEWS 7
S
ix Senses Con Dao, the first luxury of 200 guests. Each villa has both space traditional low-sitting chairs and tables,
resort on the famous Con Dao Is- and privacy along with indoor and out- while at the Deli, guests have the option to
land in the southern province of Ba door bathrooms. grab a bite to go.
Ria-Vung Tau will welcome its first guests
in December. Accommodations and Rates Six Senses Spa
The spectacular Con Dao archipelago of Six Senses Hideaway Con Dao presents The uniquely designed Six Senses Spa
islands is located to the south-east of Viet- elegantly designed modern accommoda- provides a truly relaxing and revitalizing
nam. The largest and most beautiful, Con tions offering generous personal space experience presenting some of Vietnam’s
Dao Island, hosts the Six Senses Hide- with lush tropical mangrove vegetation specialty treatments, such as cupping,
away Con Dao along a one-kilometre, and breathtaking views. There are 35 vil- together with an extensive menu of tradi-
white sand beach surrounded by dramatic las with Private Pools plus 16 Residential tional and signature treatments. Skilled
mountain landscapes. The remote setting Villas, each with two Private Pools. Styles therapists create sensory journeys for
and preserved natural landscape provides range from single-level to duplexes and guests with a range of holistic wellness
an extraordinary sense of seclusion, creat- offer one, two and three bedrooms, many programmes and pampering therapies
ing an ideal place to escape, relax and with indoor-outdoor bathrooms and sev- using products made only from natural
live close to the natural elements. eral with personal spa suite salas. ingredients and at one with ecological
responsibility.
The five-star resort boasts “ultra-contem-
porary architecture designed to enhance
Dining and Refreshments
the natural beauty of the site”. All mate-
How to get there
The arrival and main guest area of Six
rials and resources have been locally
Senses Hideaway Con Dao recreates Con Son Island, which hosts the Six
chosen, and from sustainable sources, the
a fishing village and local market, and Senses Hideaway, is around 230-kilome-
resort developers say.
features truly Redefining Experiences tres, or 145-miles, from Ho Chi Minh City
concepts. At the Fishery, guests view the and is served by Co Ong Airport. It can be
The resort has 50 villas, each with its own
whole preparation process of local sea- reached by the resort’s private airplane,
private infinity pool and unobstructed
food to be served in the restaurant. The 45-minutes from Ho Chi Minh City.
views of the East Sea with a total capacity
Vietnamese Coffee Shop is furnished with
Thursday 26.08.2010 www.travelweekly.com.vn
Furama Resort Da Nang
Nowadays, tourism industry needs more high-qual- tor for many months, but no candidate has turned
ification staffs to meet the increasingly demand of up. A whole team of managers has to come from
hotels and resort, however, it’s really difficult to Taiwan to run another resort that has just opened in
find a excellent trained manpower. Da Nang.
In order to solve this fact, investors focus on train- Whether supply’s and demand’s regulations
ing a labour force and retain qualified workers, un- solve the problem or not?
fortunately, they faced limited supply - a problem
for the travel industry throughout the central coast Huynh Tan Vinh, General Director of the Bac My An
region. Furama Resort, is chairman of the Da Nang Tourism
Association. He says Da Nang is now the “promised
Resorts are looking for qualified workers land” for tourism development.
According to Tran Thi Canh, Human Resouces (HR) The Da Nang Planning and Investment Department,
Manager of Nam Hai Resort said the key positions by the end of June 2010, counted 55 tourism projects
are held by people who once worked for Furama, registered in the city, with US$2,8 billion dollars in
the first five star resort in the central region, or for capitalization. It is expected that Da Nang will gain
other resorts or hotels in HCM City or Hanoi. another 45 more projects in 2010-2012, two-thirds of
them along the coast from Son Tra to Dien Ngoc. In
Canh said that before long in the central region, the next three years, four and five star beach hotels
more posh resorts will be put into operation by big alone will need 8000 workers.
name chains. She expects competition in the labour Unskilled workers are abundant, while qualified and
market to become very stiff, and many key staff to trained workers are scarce.
jump to other jobs.
According to Vinh, students graduated by local
Anticipating this, Nam Hai and other top resorts and schools meet only ten percent of the demand. Most
hotels are reconsidering their labour force policies. study to become receptionists or tour guides, while
They are recruiting assistants to key staff in anticipa- few are trained to become cooks, chambermaids or
tion of possible defections and improving benefits security guards.
and promotion opportunities. And the managers of
restaurants, hotels and luxury resorts in the central Vitours chief Cao Tri Dung says the central region
region all express worry about their chances of re- lacks tour guides that can work with tourists from
cruiting ordinary staff in the next several years. new markets like South Korea, Thailand and Spain.
At the Huong Giang Travel Agency, Nguyen Hang
The central region is especially short of top manag- Quy says 40 percent of his clients are from Thailand,
ers. Big resorts and hotels in Da Nang City and adja- but he’s unable to find tour guides who can speak
cent Quang Nam province are raiding workers from Thai.
other resorts and hotels by offering attractive wages
and job promotion opportunities. Tourism sector firms seem to have lost faith in the
market to meet their needs. Many urge that local
The director of a travel firm said that said that one authorities ‘should apply suitable policies’ to attract
new complex has been looking for a general direc- highly qualified workers from HCM City and Hanoi.
Thursday 26.08.2010 www.travelweekly.com.vn
10 VIETNAM NEWS
Vietnamese cultural
showcase to open in RoK
A Vietnamese cultural showcase scheduled to
open at the end of August in the Republic of Korea’s
(RoK) National Folk Museum in Seoul to promote
the country’s many different cultures.
Because of the special reasons and as per opportunity beyond simply exploring all that
requests of key exhibitors, the Organis- there is regarding hotels and tourism.
ing Board of Vietnam Hotel Expo 2010 has
decided to delay the event until 6-8 Decem- Organized by the GFC International Fair and
ber 2010 instead of 22-24 September at the Communication Company Ltd., the Viet-
Hanoi National Convention Centre. nam Hotel Expo is specifically organized
for the international hospitality community,
This year the event is held alongside the showcasing such vendors as bakery and
third annual Tourism and Camping Asia Ex- confectionery equipment manufacturers and
position, allowing travellers an even greater suppliers; products including bar and coffee
The Relics Management Board under the Hanoi City Department of Joint Stock Bank and the Vietnam Nature Museum.
Culture, Sports and Tourism launched a contest to study the historical 30 multiple choice questions about Hoa Lo relics helped young peo-
relics of Hoa Lo prison and the traditions of Thang Long – Hanoi on ple understand more about patriotism and serving the struggle of
18th August. communist soldiers.
The contest has three main components, including studying about The contest aimed to educate the revolutionary and patriotic tradition
Thang Long – Hanoi, about the Hoa Lo prison and eloquence about of the older generations, and improve people’s awareness of pre-
the 1000-year culture capital, Hoa Lo relics and heroes who have sac- serving and promoting values of historical and revolutionary relics
rificed their lives for the national liberation, drawing the participation in the capital.
of over 70 young people from different agencies such as the Military
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung, to well organize the 10-day grand anniversa- and Tourism, together with the Hanoi Peo-
Head of the National Steering Committee of ry which consists of 30 cultural activities and ple’s Committee and relevant agencies.
the celebration of 1,000 years of Thang Long festivals to solemnly show people’s affection During the meeting, while the national an-
– Hanoi, told that the preparations for the and gratitude to ancestors, and highlight tra- them is being sung, 21 gun shots will be fired
celebration must focus on three important ditional historical and revolutionary values of at the Hanoi Flag Tower Stadium. The Dep-
programs, these are the opening ceremony the Vietnamese nation. uty Prime Minister specified that no gong,
on 1 October, the meeting and parade on The art performance is expected to be last drum or horn sound should be used during
the morning of 10 October and the art and for 100 minutes. It will finish with a 20-30 min- the meeting, VGP reported.
cultural performance on the evening of 10 ute firework performance. The three large programs are expected to be
October. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the rehearsed in late September.
He instructed the Hanoi People’s Committee meeting and parade on October 10 will be
to closely coordinate with relevant agencies prepared by the Ministry of Culture, Sports
Bangkok Airport
Rail Link begins full
commercial operations
The Airport Link connecting downtown Bangkok and Suvarn-
abhumi airport began its first day of commercial services on 23
August after four-year delay, with trains now running from 6am
to midnight.
The City Line will make eight stops across the capital, start-
ing at Phaya Thai, before heading to the airport. The trains
take 30 minutes from Phaya Thai to Suvarnabhumi. Passengers
using the City Line pay a flat rate of 15 baht for a trip during
the promotion period. Fares will range from 15 baht to 45 baht,
depending on the distance travelled, after Jan 1, 2011.
Thailand Travel Mart 2010 Plus TAT has also sought to ensure quality
buyers by requiring them to pay a nominal
registration fee of USD 200. A number of
buyers invited from the domestic Thai
market will be charged USD 50 for regis-
tration.
H
awaii said aloha to 625,522 visitors in June 2010, a 13,6 percent up over June
2009 and testament to the industry’s recovery from recent events which had
dampened travel to the region.
Elvis and the Brady Bunch have been there (though perhaps not together) as has
any sitcom worth its set budget, but Hawaii, like other US destinations, suffered visi-
tor declines due to the recent economic downturn and last year’s H1N1 epidemic,
which it is now showing signs of besting.
According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the efforts of Hawaii’s tourism industry to
boost arrivals during the recession “have been successful”.
“Our focused efforts to increase travel demand to Hawaii in our major market areas
are paying off with increases in arrivals from US West, US East, Canada, and Japan,”
Hawaii Tourism Authority chief executive Mike McCartney told Bloomberg.
Oahu recorded the strongest June growth at 18,3 per cent over June 2009, followed
by the Big Island with 8,9 per cent, Maui with 5,9 percent and Kauai with 5,8 percent
increases.
“Although we still have a ways to go to make up for what has been lost during these
challenging economic times, our visitor industry is on the right path and there is
reason for increased confidence in Hawaii’s economic recovery,” Hawaii Tourism
Authority spokesperson Marsha Wienert told the newspaper.
Ms Wienert said higher per person per day spending and higher overall visitor ex-
penditure in June was a sign the industry was strong.
For the first half of 2010, total tourist expenditure in the state climbed to USD5,3 bil-
lion, a 7,8 percent increase compared with the same period last year.
International tourism to Hawaii continued to grow by 33,5 percent, led by a 47,8 per-
cent increase in Japanese visitors.
“It is also encouraging to continue to welcome more visitors from developing tour-
ism markets in Asia, specifically Korea, China and Taiwan,” Ms Weinert said.
Thursday 26.08.2010 www.travelweekly.com.vn
24 INTERNATIONAL NEWS
World Trade Market 2009 - Excel London
It’s the first time a conference venue has been positioned on the World
Travel Market exhibition floor in the event’s 31 year history.
Leading social media site TripAdvisor and travel industry website de-
sign and development company ZOLV are two technology also signed
up to the Technology and Online Travel Theatre.
World Travel Market Exhibition Director Simon Press said: “The new
Technology and Online Travel Theatre is a great initiative to help ex-
hibitors communicate the benefits of their products and services to the
global travel and tourism industry.
The first movement portrays rural life, whereas the second move-
ment portrays the red shirt tide of demonstrators sweeping over
Bangkok and occupying key areas of the city. The third move-
ment expresses an outpouring of grief, from all sides, for the hurt
inflicted upon the nation, while the fourth and last movement
does not tell a story, but instead, projects the hope that Thais will
find a fair resolution, come together to rebuild the nation so that
normalcy shall be restored, to be once again united in peace.
H.E. Admiral M.L. Usni Pramoj will be on the viola, with Tasana
Nagavajara on the first violin and Siripong Tiptan on the second
violin, with Kittikhun Sodprasert on the cello.
The money 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.
In the lead up and first two days of the Games (11-15 August 2010),
more than US$42,5 million was spent by international visitors to Sin-
gapore on Visa-branded payment cards. This is a 45 percent increase
from the same period in 2009.
1. USA
2. Indonesia
3. Malaysia
4. Australia
5. Japan
6. UK
7. China
8. Hong Kong, China
9. India
10. Thailand
Thursday 26.08.2010 www.travelweekly.com.vn
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
The budget carrier Jetstar Pacific will sell ang route or Ho Chi Minh City – Danang route cards, such as Visa, Master Card, Amex, and
cheap tickets for flights between three big will cost from VND 300,000, while tickets for JCB, and by domestic debit cards, such as
cities, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Danang flights between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City Connect 24 (Vietcombank), E- Partner (Viet-
City, from 7th September to 27th October cost from VND 600,000. inbank), and VIB.
on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of The air carrier often launches promotional
Thang Long – Hanoi. Cheap tickets will be available on the Jetstar programs for passengers at special events
Pacific’s website from 9am to 5pm on August every year.
Accordingly, each ticket for the Hanoi - Dan- 20th, and can be paid for online by credit
Thursday 26.08.2010 www.travelweekly.com.vn
AVIATION NEWS 29
Siem Reap International Airport will have two per cent more week- eight additional services – one from Pusan and seven from Incheon.
ly flights in the coming October 2010-March 2011 winter timetable, Airport operator Société Concessionnaire des Aéroports (SCA) has
mainly from regional destinations such as China, South Korea and held two fam trips this year for South Korean agents and media. A
Singapore. similar fam will be held in Japan next week to spur interest in char-
SilkAir’s additional flight will bring its services from Singapore to nine ter or regular flights into SCA’s three airports in Cambodia, including
a week. Phnom Penh International Airport and Sihanoukville Airport.
China Southern Airlines will increase its Canton-Siem Reap services Etienne Lefort , Airport Manager said Siem Reap Airport International,
from two to five weekly flights. Meanwhile, Yunnan Airlines has re- in particular, will receive more charter flights in the winter season.
quested for slots for daily flights between Kunming and Siem Reap. This month alone, the airport will have hosted 60 charters from Hong
Asiana Airlines will up its Incheon-Siem Reap flights to six a week, Kong, China, Taiwan and South Korea.
from the previous four. Korean Air will have 17 flights a week through
Thursday 26.08.2010 www.travelweekly.com.vn
30 AVIATION NEWS
Garuda Indonesia will launch direct Jakarta-Tokyo services from 31 The aircraft features Garuda’s refreshed cabin products, which in-
August 2010. cludes a 180-degree fully flat bed seat in Business class, touchscreen
LCD monitors in all classes, a state-of-the-art flight entertainment sys-
The carrier already flies from Denpasar, Bali to Tokyo daily, to Nagoya tem with Audio and Video On Demand (AVOD), which offers a choice
three times a week and to Osaka five times a week. of 25 films, 250 audio tracks and 25 video games.
GA884 will depart from Jakarta at 2350 and arrive in Tokyo at 0900. Travellers from Japan can also take advantage of onboard visa-on-
Return flight GA885 leaves Tokyo at 1200 and arrives in Jakarta at 1745. arrival services.
An Airbus A330-200 with a capacity of 222 passengers, 36 in Business
class and 186 in Economy class, will be used on the route.
4
regional differences. From food Equal Rights
to music to sport, many traditions
flourish across the Iberian Penin-
sula, though unique aspects of each Spain formerly operated under a
area in the country, from Andalusia male-dominated culture known as
to Catalonia, can be found as well. machismo. More recently, Spain has
become more equalized, with wom-
5
social and financial support, though Cuisine
it is less common now for Spanish
people to enter into the family busi-
based vegetable soup. And of
ness than it was in the past. Current- You can find jamon ser- course you
ly, birth rates are low in Spain, and rano and j a m o n
family ties have loosened slightly.
6
iberico, different
styles of dry-cured
Food, Drink and
2 Religion Spanish
hanging in
throughout
h a m ,
stores
the county
Nightlife
Spanish people enjoy a type of food
known as tapas, which are small
The majority of Spanish people and en- joyed by all
practice Roman Catholicism, with Spaniards. Across the appetizer portions. Many Spanish
94 percent of the population consid- country, typi- cal dishes people hop from tapas bar to tapas
ering themselves to be Roman Cath- include pa- ella, a rice bar during an evening. A night out
olic. Many Spanish holidays have dish with a variety often begins with el paseo, which is
religious ties. Holy Week is marked of other in- gredients; a walk through the main streets of
by processions throughout Spain, tortilla es- panola, an a city. Spanish people enjoy coffee
with many of the participants walk- egg om- elette with and bottled water. Seafood plays a
ing barefoot while wearing pointed fried po- tatoes; large part in Spanish dishes, as well
black hats as penance. and gaz- pacho, as Serrano ham.
a cold,
3
to - ma-
Holidays to-
Let’s say your parents have decided to take you abroad for a year, maybe because they have a sabbatical, or maybe just for “fun”. To an
adult, it may seem like the perfect opportunity for you to learn a new language and make new friends, but you its a whole different story!
What about the friends you’re leaving behind? What about the whole part where you have to LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE?
1, Stay calm or freak out ahead of time: But when that fateful
day arrives, the first day in a foreign school, act as if this is what you do ev-
eryday. Scream and pound your fists in your head and curse the heck out
of everyone, in your head, but play it cool. Remember, everyone around
you is wondering how they would react to this situation, and it impresses
them to see you so collected.
2, Evaluate other people: There are always some kids who want to
be the first to know the new kid, to veto them or accept them. It’s usually
the popular ones. The great thing about a new school is that they don’t
know the first thing about you! So, watch them, and either laugh at them
(this always helps in a pinch) or mold to them. They are actually usually
nicer to you than the other kids.
4, Use lots of sign language: Point at things and make funny fac-
es. If you can make people laugh while making them understand, you get
even more points!
5, Talk: Talk. Talk. Talk. Not just with teachers when they ask you a ques-
tion, but with all the kids, whether you like them or not. They will be so
busy trying to understand you that they won’t notice how weird you speak.
And if anyone makes fun of how you talk, other people will get mad at
them, seeing how much you try.
6, Enjoy yourself: Reminisce about your old home, but don’t dis the
new one. It’s got its quirks, sure, but mostly its an okay place. As long as
you work with everyone around you, you’ll catch on faster than you had
EVER imagined.
Tips
• Speak as often as you can, but whats even more im-
portant is reading. If you have a study period, and you
can go to the library, go. Read a comic book. Read a
fairy tale. It doesn’t matter, just read. When you read,
your mind doesn’t stumble over the words; it just goes a
little slower, unlike your mouth. Its the best practice you
could possibly hope for.
Warnings
• Never cry in school, except maybe on the last day
when you have to say goodbye and its incredibly hard.
All your friends will cry too.
I t ’ s t o o early in the implementation phase to predict the specific ways health reform w i l l i m p a c t
t h e m edical tourism industr y. However, the health care problems that spurred th e g r o w t h o f
m e d i c a l t o uris m in t he firs t plac e wi l l not be sol ved by the Pati ent Protecti on and A f f ordable
C a r e A c t (PPACA). In fact, many problems, such as high costs, are likely to increas e u n d e r t h e
l e g i s la ti o n. Lu c kily, m edic al t o uri sm can hel p sol ve these concerns.
Perverse Incentives
In the US health care system, there are few
incentives to control health care spending
and hold down costs. Under the reforms
recently signed into law, nearly every-
one’s incentives will become worse, not
better — especially patients’.
The cornerstone of health reform is an
individual mandate that requires virtually
all U.S. residents to have health coverage.
This certainly will do nothing to control
costs. Indeed, because of the third-party
payment system (employer-sponsored
plans, insurers and government), every
time a patient in the United States spends a
dollar on health care, only 12 cents comes
out of his own pocket, on average. This
means patients have an incentive to con-
sume health care until its value to them is
worth only 12 cents on the dollar.
What This Means for Medical Tourism Medical Tourism Offers a Solution
Despite lower cost, the quality of health care abroad can be high. For Estimates vary, but more than a half million Americans travel outside
example, foreign doctors are often trained or board certified in the the United States for health care every year, and the number is grow-
United States. More than 300 hospitals abroad are accredited by the ing. Americans are finding package prices that include airfare and
Joint Commission International — the arm of the organization that ac- hotel rooms for one-third, one-fourth or even one-fifth of what they
credits American hospitals participating in Medicare. Some foreign would pay in the United States. Virtually every major U.S. insurer is
hospitals are owned, managed or affiliated with prestigious American actively studying how to enter this international market.
universities or health care systems, including the Cleveland Clinic, Traditionally, uninsured patients were the ones who traveled abroad
Johns Hopkins and Harvard International. The best foreign hospitals in search of lower cost, high-quality health care. However, beginning
not only post quality data (such as their case-adjusted mortality rates), in 2014, all businesses with more than 50 workers will be required to
they compare their rates to those at the best U.S. hospitals. There are offer employee coverage or pay a per-worker fine. With no cost con-
even medical travel bureaus that help patients find high quality care trol provisions in the PPACA, health plans will have to find out-of-the-
to meet their needs. box solutions to the ever-rising cost of medical care. Increasingly,
On a recent trip to Guatemala City, Guatemala I toured a facility run runaway costs will force employer-sponsored plans to offer workers
by Grupo Hospitalario, a private hospital chain. The CEO of the facil- the opportunity to travel abroad for some medical procedures in re-
ity was a Cornell University MBA. Most of the doctors who practice turn for a share of the savings.
there are U.S. trained, and most are board certified. They have all the
latest equipment and can do just about anything an American hospi-
tal can do. For starters, the hospital we visited looks like a modern
hotel — rooms come with a TV, minibar, Internet hookup and 24-hour
Bottom Line
I have no confidence the health reform legislation will solve our health
room service. And the price is right: a private room is $55 a day (a care problems. But I do have a lot of confidence that entrepreneurs
suite is $85). can. As entrepreneurs develop the medical tourism industry, it will
Almost all medical services cost a fraction of what they would in the become commonplace for employers to help workers find a high-
United States. Whereas MRI scans in the United States range, say, quality health care provider abroad, saving both the employer and
from $500 to $1,500, the Guatemalan equivalent costs $240 (daytime) employee money. Domestic hospitals and clinics will recognize their
or $100 (evening). Gastric bypass surgery, a popular procedure for lost business and begin to compete for patients on the basis of price.
American patients, costs $8,000 in Guatemala, compared to $25,000 in
the United States.
Currently, only 10 percent of their patients are foreign and only 2 per-
cent to 3 percent are American, but as the U.S. health care system be-
comes increasingly dysfunctional, a low-cost, high-quality alternative
like Grupo Hospitalario could become a hotspot for individuals trying
to escape suffocating medical expenses.
Thursday 26.08.2010 www.travelweekly.com.vn