BIG FIVE
TOURS & EXPEDITIONS introduced an eight-night program
to Kerala, India, designed to offer an in-depth experience of what
the tour company is calling an increasingly popular region. Guests
stay at a heritage resort on Coconut Lagoon and at a hillside
retreat near the tea plantations of Munnar that offers massages and
Ayurvedic wellness regimes. Also included is a houseboat cruise, a
boating safari through Keralas Periyar Sanctuary and a stay in
Cochin. The land-only price starts at $1,190 per person, double
occupancy. It includes hotel and houseboat accommodations,
sightseeing, the services of a professional guide/driver throughout
the tour and daily breakfast. For more information, call (800) BIG
FIVE or log onto www.bigfive.com.
JOURNEYS
WITHIN, a boutique tour operation based in Siem Reap,
Cambodia, is re-launching its Mekong Experience tour, on the heels
of its successful run in 2005. The 30-night program follows the
Mekong River from the Yunnan Province, China, to the Mekong Delta
in Vietnam, crossing six countries -- China, Burma, Thailand, Laos,
Cambodia and Vietnam -- and including accommodations in a variety
of options from luxury teakwood boats to five star hotels and from
a basic communist hotel to small longtail boats. The price of the
trip is $5,450 per person, double occupancy, and with departures
Oct. 26 or Nov. 9. For more information, see http://journeys-within.com or call (877)
454-3672.
INDUS
TRAVELS, based in Richmond, British Columbia, created the
14-night Festivals of Sri Lanka & South India tour, departing
Aug. 3, spotlighting the Kandy Esala Perahera in Sri Lanka, when
locals give thanks for a bountiful harvest with elephant parades,
and the Nehru Boat Race in Alleppy, an event with music and folk
dancing surrounding a backwater boat race. The package is priced
from $1,795 per person, double occupancy, and includes
accommodations and daily breakfast; sightseeing; entrance fees for
the Kandy Temple & Cultural Show and a Kathakali dance
performance in Cochin; a boat trip at Periyar National Park; one
night on a houseboat in Alleppy; and taxes. For details, call (866)
978-2997, e-mail [email protected] or log onto www.industravels.ca.
THE
INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP signed contracts to manage
six new hotels set to open in 2006 and 2007, collectively totaling
more than 4,500 rooms in China. Owned by Chengdu International
Exhibition & Convention Group, the properties are in Chengdu
and Jiuzhaigou in Chinas Sichuan province. Of the six hotels, two
are InterContinentals, three are Holiday Inns and one is an Express
by Holiday Inn. Now one of the largest international hotel
operators in China, IHG first entered the country in 1984 with the
opening of a Holiday Inn.