Tourism sector gets into gear for Visit Laos Year

The Lao National Tourism Administration (LNTA) will promote Visit Laos Year 2012 well in advance, so tourists everywhere get to know about the possibilities on offer.The administration has started to prepare its campaign and has asked the government for approval to organise tourist events in each province.LNTA Vice Chairman Soukaseum Bodhisane said they would officially announce the campaign to the world one year in advance and would actively promote it, aiming to provide good hospitality to visitors from many countries.

“We have already advised each province to be well-prepared and to use their budget to improve tourism attractions to cope with more visitors,” he said.The administration will organi se events to boost tourism in the country, aiming to improve services and raise the profile of Laos in the region and the world, Mr Soukaseum said. He noted that if more visitors were expected the tourism and hospitality sectors would have to boost their standards.

The administration will focus on nature- and community-based tourism, to convince visitors from around the world of the special cultural, historical and natural attractions of Laos.Because each province has its own places of historic and natural interest, along with festivals, the administration is urging tourism officials to prepare programmes.“We are certain the campaign will bring positive impacts to the tourist industry and bring more and more visitors to Laos,” Mr Soukaseum said.

The Visit Laos Year campaign is the country’s second after the first such promotion in 1999. More and more visitors are coming to Laos to enjoy the tourist activities on offer here, and provinces will work together to come up with interesting programmes. However, the administration admits that lack of experience meant the first campaign was not a great success.But having organised many tourist-related events since then, officials are confident that this time around the campaign will be more effective.

Source=laovoices