Vat Xiengthong temple in Luang Prabang city is one of the most popular visitor attractions. -- Teng
VIENTIANE: The Lao government is rolling out a series of ambitious initiatives to attract more international and domestic tourists, ranging from infrastructure upgrades to smarter digital promotion and streamlined travel procedures.
Addressing the National Assembly last week, Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Suanesavanh Vignaket, highlighted plans to transform the visitors’ experience and strengthen Laos’ position as a leading travel destination in the region.
A major focus will be on improving road access and upgrading facilities at key tourist attractions to ensure they meet international standards.
Authorities will improve services and standards across the tourism industry, partly through the introduction of more diverse and interesting activities, while also paying greater attention to safety.
In addition, more will be done to promote tourism in Laos in various ways, including advertising in the media, to ensure that accurate and clear information is readily accessible by a wide range of target tourism markets.
The payment system will also be overhauled so that payments by tourists are made through the Lao banking system with the aim of increasing domestic currency circulation.
In another move to make life easier for visitors and officials, document checks at border crossings will be streamlined and personal information will be recorded in a database, Mrs Suanesavanh said.
The government and businesses will join forces to organise tourism promotion activities in conjunction with festivals, with more events to be included in the tourism calendar for 2025 and successive years.
There will be a concerted effort by central and local government personnel to modernise the licensing of tourism business operations, to ensure that tourism business management is unified across the country, the minister added.
In addition, tourism associations will be encouraged to work with business operators in neighbouring countries to create programmes that promote tourism links and facilitate travel between these nations.
Tourism authorities will do more to target specific groups in neighbouring countries by directing advertising to their particular needs and interests, in a bid to attract more tourists to Laos and generate more income.
In the first three months of this year, more than 1.2 million foreign tourists visited Laos, an increase of 11 per cent compared to the same period in 2024, while the revenue generated surpassed US$426 million.
Meanwhile, the number of domestic tourists exceeded 1.4 million, representing an increase of 98.6 per cent and generating revenue of more than US$237 million, Suanesavanh said. - Vientiane Times/ANN
