Asia Travel Experts See Surge in Last-minute Bookings
Immediate Turnaround No Problem for Asia Transpacific Journeys
BOULDER, CO, March 2009 – Time was when a trip to Asia was months in the planning. Now that’s no longer true, according to Asia Transpacific Journeys.
“A family called on Thursday. They had good airline rates to Thailand. We put the trip together for them overnight and they were out the door on Sunday,” says Marilyn Downing Staff, CEO of Asia Transpacific Journeys, specialists in travel to Asia and Pacific Rim destinations for 21 years.
Does this mean that the price of airline tickets is driving folks’ travel decisions?
In some cases, yes, Downing Staff says, remembering when the time between request and travel was about nine months out.
“Our clients are also booking last-minute, booking shorter trips and visiting destinations that are very economical, but they’re not taking what might be called budget trips,” she says. “They may forego a five-star accommodation for four stars but they still want private guides, authentic experiences and comfort with value.”
She says with demand down it’s now possible to book last-minute travel to Asia and secure amazing accommodations that formerly were booked solid months in advance. “With our connections we are pulling off some amazing hat tricks for our travelers these days,” says Downing Staff. “If you want to stay in a maharajah’s palace next week we can make it happen.”
About Asia Transpacific Journeys
Asia Transpacific Journeys is a Boulder, Colorado-based Asia travel company and Asia tour operator specializing in Custom Journeys and Small Group Trips to Asia and the Pacific region since 1987. Outstanding service, long-standing connections in Asia and deeply insightful cultural interpretation make them the Asia travel company of choice for the American Museum of Natural History, The Harvard and Yale alumni associations, the World Wildlife Fund, as well as discerning individuals, their families and friends. Journey Beyond the Ordinary ™ http://www.AsiaTranspacific.com
Cox & Kings
Cox & Kings is fortunate to be the longest running travel company in the world. Our passion and knowledge expands with every journey we make and every adventure our clients experience. Cox & Kings has cared for its customers with uncompromising style and grace since 1758. The unbroken chain of relationships, friendships and partnerships we’ve nurtured for centuries allows us to bring to life extraordinary cultural and wildlife experiences in many of the most beautiful, intriguing and exotic places on earth. Our destinations include Africa, the Indian Ocean, Asia, India, Latin America and the Middle East. Our programs consist primarily of private, tailor-made travel itineraries which can incorporate countless adventure aspects. Additionally, we offer special one-off group departures to take advantage of special festivals or fairs such as in India or Ethiopia. From visiting remote hidden ruins by helicopter in the jungles of Peru or Colombia to discovering island hideaways in Madagascar, our team of travel experts can craft the perfect cultural and/or wildlife adventure holiday for your clients. We are a Virtuoso VAST (Virtuoso Active and Specialty Travel) Supplier and proud to have been recognized by National Geographic Adventure Magazine as one of the Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth. So want to dine with former headhunters in Borneo? Or be eye-to-eye with the mountain gorillas in Rwanda? Perhaps sipping tea with royalty in India or soaring above the treetops in a special canopy crane in Panama.. Whatever your clients’ wildest desires, Cox & Kings has the contacts and the insider knowledge to make dreams a reality.
Asia Travel Company Assists Cyclone Relief
Asia Transpacific Journeys Responds to Crisis in Myanmar By Providing Clean Drinking WaterBOULDER, CO. – A Colorado-based travel company is assisting cyclone relief by stepping up its already-established, in-Myanmar program of producing clay water filters for clean drinking water.
Asia Transpacific Journeys, based in Boulder, Colorado, established its non-profit Asia Transpacific Foundation to help on a year-round basis with global clean drinking water issues and is now moving immediately to distribute water filters from its Yangon facility to those in desperate need from the aftermath of the cyclone.
“Our production facility is just outside of Yangon. It sustained damage to the roof from the cyclone, but the kilns are operating and we’re ready to hit the ground running,” says Marilyn Downing Staff, Asia Transpacific Journeys’ founder and owner. “We have three American volunteers based in Yangon. They are ramping up filter production with local staff as a response to this terrible crisis.”
“Our foundation is uniquely poised to provide direct relief to those without drinking water. We’ve operated our Clean Water Initiative for several years in Myanmar, and are among the very few authorized, licensed and legitimate operations of its kind, in a country that normally spurns foreign NGOs.”
The Asia Transpacific Foundation is the charitable arm of Asia Transpacific Journeys. The foundation, established in 1996, is a 501(c) (3) registered non-profit organization, and is volunteer driven. 100% of tax-deductible donations go directly to producing and firing clay filters, that are then distributed to the local population. Each dollar buys a few bricks and some clay, a kiln is built, filters are fired, and lives are saved.
A $100 donation provides clean drinking water for 20 children. A $10,000 donation funds the construction of an entire filter production facility, which employs 20 people and can produce 100 filters a day.
“Many people feel helpless in the face of such suffering. By donating to the foundation anyone can make a real and lasting impact. Clean, drinking water can help alleviate disease and provide comfort and health to the Burmese people,” says Downing Staff.
About the Asia Transpacific Foundation
Asia Transpacific Foundation is the charitable arm of Asia Transpacific Journeys, a Boulder, Colorado-based tour operator specializing in travel throughout Asia. The foundation, established in 1996, provides direct financial support to the clean water initiative, which produces and distributes water filters to orphanages, schools and local communities in Asia. It also responds to specific pleas in times of crisis, including aid to the tsunami survivors in Asia in 2004.
