Lao: Tourist arrival increased by 20 per cent in 1st quarter

Foreign tourist arrival in the first three months has increased by 20 per cent as compared to the same period last year, said Vice-President of the National Tourism Administration Vang Lattanavong.The number of foreigners visiting Laos has tripled from 700,000 in 2000 to over 2.5 million last year.

Tourism market in the Mekong region has seen a significant increase over the last few years. In 2008, the foreign tourist arrival in the region was 23 million and reached 26 million and 31 million in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

There are more than 20 border checkpoints across the country and 15 of these are able to issue visas of which the length of stay is between 15 days and 30 days.Laos has reached an agreement with many governments to exempt visa for visitors from eight ASEAN member states, Japan, Russia, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

The Mekong Tourism Forum 2011 will help Laos expose itself to larger tourism market in the region but, it is more important to have domestic tourism market developed in sustainable manners and promote warm hospitality in the public, said Mr. Vang.

Source = laovoices