Vietnam diving & mountain biking adventure holiday

Thank you for providing your thoughts and opinions regarding your time in Vietnam with us. We value your feedback very highly and will use it to improve our service. As for the responsible tourism aspect of your tour, our service providers were Vietnamese, a combination of small private companies and family businesses - local hotels, guides, boat owners and so on.

Regarding guides, we use only registered freelance local guides for two main reasons - their superior knowledge and their freedom to choose their employers. As a result, we are able to recruit the best guides and the guides maximise their earnings. Mr. Quyen and Mr. Thinh are typical of the many freelance guides we employ. Both have wide experience and knowledge of Vietnam's cultural traditions and a ability to interpret the heritage of the people in the places you visited. Furthermore, by travelling with us, you and other clients not only help us provide a constant income for local guides, but also enhance the quality of visitor experience thus deepening understanding of our country.

We were unable to arrange a home stay with an ethnic minority village in the Sapa area due to your time constraint and concern that the weather would be very cold in an unheated dwelling in November. Nevertheless, feedback received during your tour indicated that you enjoyed your time in Hanoi and Sapa. We’re sorry that Ms. Nhung was unclear in her communication with you about the duration of the trip to Ha Long Bay involving cruising and kayaking. It was a 2-day trip to Ha Long Bay which included a return transfer from Hanoi, sightseeing on the bay, swimming and kayaking. The kayaking was an element in the cruise, not a 2-day long activity. Nhung didn't draw your attention to that, because it was stated in the programme. As for the cycling element in Cuc Phuong, we chose one of the best regarded cycling routes in the National Park. We have received constant good feedback from our recent clients. We’re sorry that it wasn’t long and enjoyable enough for you.

Obviously, we are very disappointed that our service did not meet your expectations. In the future, when we receive enquiries requesting our services at short notice, we must further emphasise that without more detailed communication the quality may be compromised.

Nevertheless, our good wishes go with you. We hope to see you again one day in Vietnam. If you should return, we still hope to have another chance to experience our normal high quality (and some complementary additions) if we have a longer time to prepare from the time of contacting us to the time you start your tour.

'Thank you very much for your kind words about our services and your concerns about responsible tourism in Vietnam. We've been working on a database of Vietnamese companies, no-profit organisations, shops, restaurants, and other outlets and service providers that conform to ethical and responsible criteria for our own use. Your suggestion has prompted us to compile a list of appropriate responsible organisations for our website. The purpose would be to raise awareness of the importance of responsible tourism and also encourage our guests to use such organisations and, where relevant, to contribute directly to worthy causes such as orphanages, environmental protection initiatives, social community projects and so on. To follow on from this, we're considering a 'travel kit', which would include all the above, to be printed around October. We'll add this travel kit to the welcome packages that we provide for our clients when they arrive in Vietnam.