About Us-Asco Lotus

An Indochine Adventure

The Asco Lotus adventure started in 1995 when Mauro Barattino teamed up with  other Italians who had, like him, been working in Tourism for some time.  (See the legend of the name "Asco").

We had grown to love Indochina starting many years ago when we accompanied the first groups of European travellers. Seeing the endless fascination of these beautiful lands, the sweetness of their inhabitants, and the richness of their art and cultures, we could only lament the lack of adequate tourist infrastructure.

When hotels adequate to high international standards began to be built or rebuilt in Vietnam, we understood that our moment to start the adventure had arrived.  The result was the creation of ASCO Lotus, based in Hong Kong with a representative office in Ho Chi Minh City.

The first clients arrived and went home enthusiastically, telling of their holiday in which they had discovered an unknown and fantastic world. Business grew and we embarked on the first challenge, to launch tourism in Vietnam at a level adequate to that of more advanced countries. We all remember the excitement of the first Incentive arriving in Vietnam with the rumble of our Alfa Romeo engines.

Vietnam is in the heart of old Indochina, an ideal point from where to embark for nearby countries; it therefore appeared natural to create ASCO Cambodia in 1998, which has been the first company with entirely foreign capital to be founded in Cambodia, based in Phnom Penh with operational offices in Siem Reap – Angkor.

The growth of the tourist flow towards Vietnam was unstoppable and it became necessary to open two new operational offices, in Danang and Hanoi. The true and unexpected novelty was, however, the growing demand for services for qualified “seaside” tourism. ASCO Lotus therefore decided to invest its resources and its potential in this sector as well and in 2002 the company MIRAMAR was created; it is currently developing a hotel project on the island of Phu Quoc in Vietnam. Continuing along this receptive line towards new tourism trends, in 2004 we acquired ACTION MAX, a company specialized in the planning and organization of “events” and Team building. 

In 2003, furthermore, ASCO Laos was started, with an operational office in Vientiane.  With this office, the ambitious project of being present in all three countries of Indochina was achieved. Our background is European and this is also the region from where almost all of our clients originate.  Therefore in order to follow this huge market more closely, in 2005 we opened a representative office in the heart of the Mediterranean, in Barcelona.

With the opening of this office, the circle was almost complete.  The completion point was in October 2005 when we created ASCO Thailand, with an operational office in Bangkok.  This is  from where all our land and air routes to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia start, and is the true “gateway” to Indochina.

Italian philosphy in Indochinese land

We are children of our land and we carry all its traits. Here in Asia however, we have learned to appreciate our existing values of hospitality, respect and simplicity even more.

We have added, from ourselves, all that we’ve learned during years of work in tourism: adaptability to different situations, readiness in solving problems,  maximum punctuality and professional efficiency. By mixing these skills with our knowledge of the area, we have created a winning formula for travellers. Although we are confident, our passion for our work also leads us to continually strive for more.  In addition, we realize that even minor details are crucial in determining the joy of a holiday.

Our daily challenge is to make sure that every client goes back home having fallen in love with Indochina at least as much as we have.

We deeply respect these countries who host us, we respect their people and their culture. “Globalization” cannot be one way and therefore with our work we try to greatly support and emphasize the value of the traditions, arts and history of the peoples of Indochina so that they can become a global human heritage.

A holiday is for joy, rest and fun but it is also a human and cultural enrichment: we presume that our services provide for all of this.

A rigorous work method

1. Success is not improvised and it is not achieved by chance.
2. Results achieved are not a goal but an intermediate step.
3. Efficiency achieved can always be bettered.

In our work we stick to these three simple principles and we demand from ourselves and all our collaborators the maximum dedication and the most rigorous professionality.

The basic guidelines of our work management are:

- Constant updating of staff by means of language, cultural-historical and technical formative stages;

- Maximum operational integration between all ASCO offices operating in the four countries;

- Rigorous activity planning and planning of long term projects;

- Study and research of new destinations or new travel formulas;

- Fast updating on technological innovations.

These have been the guidelines of our company policy for the last ten years and in our view the results have been very good, considering the achievements and reputation we enjoy today.

The merit goes mainly to our staff which is comprised of primarily local staff, integrated with European personnel that have a solid background in the tourism sector. This positive mix enables all of our staff  to respond in the best way to all requirements and expectations of a mainly European clientele.

We have so far proceded with caution, one step at a time, and we intend to proceed with the same caution  , widening our market to tour operators from Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Eastern European countries…and overseas from Columbia.

We have been deeply and steadily based in Indochina for 10 years and have explored all corners of these countries. We have been here to see the local tourist industry grow from the very beginning, and can legitimately say that we have helped it grow. We have also taught something to many. We are confidant that “we swim like a fish in the Mekong” and we are ready to offer all of our professionalism to Tour Operators and Incentive Houses.