The last two weeks of December are booked in September. For our four destinations the festive peak is not one season but two different ones: a resort peak in Thailand and Bali, built around compulsory dinners and minimum stays, and a domestic holiday in Japan and Korea that changes what is open.
A quote that treats the period as an ordinary high season will be wrong on price in the first pair and wrong on the itinerary in the second.
Tailândia e Bali: a época alta dos resorts
In Tailândia and in Bali, many resorts attach a compulsory gala dinner to Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and to New Year's Eve, charged per person whether or not the guest attends. Minimum-stay rules across the period are common, and cancellation terms tighten. None of these is a surcharge the client can decline at the hotel, so each belongs in the quote as a named line rather than inside a room rate.
Two further points. New Year's Eve is a public holiday in Thailand, and the major city countdowns draw heavy crowds, so transfers that evening need time and a fixed pick-up point. And late December falls in Bali's wet season in Indonésia, which rarely stops a programme but does favour flexible outdoor timings.
Japão: um feriado que fecha portas
In Japão, the year-end and New Year holiday is the country's most important domestic break. Government offices close from 29 December to 3 January, and many businesses, some museums and smaller restaurants take days off in the same window. At the same time, the first shrine visit of the year draws large crowds to major shrines in the first days of January, and domestic travel peaks on the days either side.
For a group, that means checking the opening days of every visit in the programme, planning around the travel rush, and treating a shrine visit on 1 January as a crowd event rather than a quiet cultural stop.
Coreia: um dia de folga e um sino
In Coreia, 1 January is a single public holiday; the long family holiday is the lunar new year, Seollal, which falls later in the winter. So the solar new year is less disruptive to opening hours than in Japan. The set piece is the midnight bell ringing at Bosingak in central Seoul, which draws a very large crowd and road closures around it. Groups that want to see it need a plan for getting there and a realistic one for getting back.
O que incluir na cotação
Name every festive supplement — gala dinners, minimum-stay nights, peak surcharges — as its own line with its date. State the cancellation terms that apply to the period, because they are usually stricter than the rest of the year. And for Japan and Korea, attach the opening days of each visit, so the client sees that the programme was built for the holiday rather than despite it.
Perguntas frequentes
Can a client skip a compulsory gala dinner? At most resorts that apply one, the charge stands whether or not the guest attends. Quote it so it is not a surprise.
Is Japan closed over New Year? Not closed, but changed. Government offices close from 29 December to 3 January and many smaller businesses take days off; major sights and shrines stay busy.
Is New Year's Day a big holiday in Korea? It is a single public holiday. The major family holiday is Seollal, the lunar new year.
When should festive groups be booked? Now. Minimum stays and allotments for late December are usually committed well before the autumn.
Onde entra a Explera
We quote the festive period line by line across the four destinations and check opening days for every visit. For a Christmas or New Year group, write to b2b@expleradmc.com or message +66 93 656 8090. Explera DMC is IATA TIDS-registered (96215733).
