Pandaw River Cruises announced they had secured funding to see them through to September next year when the line anticipates restarting operations on waterways in Asia.
After the announcement last month that the company would close because of a lack of funds, as a result of COVID, Pandaw was inundated with goodwill messages from regular travelers. In addition, a number of would-be investors emerged keen to buy the brand.
The Strachan family, who own Pandaw, managed to secure further finance in order to cover the lay-up and ship refurbishment costs for a restart in Autumn 2022. They intend to keep the business in the family as well as to relaunch marketing activity as soon as the remaining restrictions are lifted.
Pandaw founder, Paul Strachan remarked that "if it were not for the incredible support from the members of the Pandaw community, with so many kind words evoking memories of incredible experiences" with them, he thought they would have thrown in the towel.
"A big thank you to all our supporters for raising morale after nearly two years of hell”.
Bookings for Pandaw's 2022-2023 season have been strong and a lot of departures sold out with bookers canceled by COVID using credits to rebook. New bookings have taken advantage of the US$100 deposit scheme reassuring against the risk of cancellations.
Meanwhile, the destinations of Pandaw are reopening with Cambodia, Thailand, and India, open now to vaccinated guests. Parts of Vietnam and Laos will be accessible in January as a first step towards fully reopening in 2022.