Laos, jewel of the Mekong River, is further taping its rich natural and cultural heritages and beefing up international tourism cooperation, in a move to develop the local promising hospitality industry, a Lao senior official told Xinhua in an exclusive interview Friday.
"As early as 1985, we attached special importance to promote natural, cultural and historical tourism. In recent years, we've deepened tourism cooperation with international organizations and neighbor countries, including China," said Vang Rattanavong, vice chairman of the Lao National Tourism Administration.
Laos, home to numerous ancient pagodas, natural caves and wild animals, has improved infrastructure and service quality, as well as ensured healthy tourism environment in many localities, especially at well-known resorts such as the World Heritage-listed sites of Luang Prabang and the Phou Temple, the That Luang stupa and the Plain of Jars.
"We are zoning some 20 forests nationwide for tourism activities. No tree logging, no animal hunting there to ensure that visitors will see the best shape of our picturesque landscapes. Besides, you can see that there are no local beggars or street vendors following every of your steps like a spy like in some other countries," Rattanavong smiled warmly.
To make Laos better known to the world, local authorities are strengthening tourism promotion activities, mainly by actively partaking in fairs and exhibitions abroad, hosting regional tourism meetings, distributing useful leaflets, guidebooks and CD- ROMs to visitors, and assisting local people, who are very friendly, in producing and selling more handicrafts at lower prices, the vice chairman noted.
"Now, we're coordinating with the Commerce Ministry to send some Lao tourism companies to the 2nd China-ASEAN Trade Fair to be held in the Nanning city next month. There, they'll join hands with Chinese partners in bringing more Chinese people into our country. Marketing approaches must be impressive," he said.
According to Rattanavong, foreign visitors have deep impressions on small comic booklets about do's and don'ts in Laos as well as easy-to-use guidebooks embedded with specific maps. " In the booklets, we draw many funny pictures with advise given in English and Laos like 'Using your feet for anything other than walking or playing sport is generally considered rude'. Or 'Please do not distribute gifts to children as it encourages begging, but give to an established organization or village elders instead."
"We're working with the UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) for the recognition of the Plain of Jars as a world heritage site in 2006," Rattanavong said, noting that over 3,000 mysterious stone jar weighing several tons each in a scattered way in a plain in the Xiengkhuang province.
Regarding international cooperation, Laos has boost its tourism ties with both international entities like the World Tourism Organization and foreign countries, especially neighbor ones, including China, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia.
"We've stepped up relations with other countries bilaterally, trilaterally and even in a six-party manner like with Greater Mekong Sub-region. Now, we're focusing on trilateral ties, such as Laos-Vietnam-Thailand and Cambodia-Laos-Thailand to take advantage of tourist flows within the countries," the official stated, noting his country wants neighboring countries to upgrade some of their national border gates into international ones.
Laos welcomed over 894,800 foreign visitors and made tourism revenues of US$118.9 million last year, posting year-on- year surges of 41 percent and 36.2 percent, he said, noting the local hospitality was the biggest foreign currency earner.
"Last year, nearly 82.6 percent of foreign visitors were from the Asia-Pacific and over 12.5 percent from Europe. Vientiane capital, Savanakhet province and Luang Prabang former capital received most of the tourists," Rattanavong noted.
By the end of last year, Laos had 148 hotels and 809 guesthouses with a total of 13,666 rooms, he said.
(Xinhua News Agency September 30, 2005)
