By Chanthaphaphone Mixayboua, Zhang Jianhua
VIENTIANE, Jul 1 (NNN-XINHUA) – Laos welcomed more than 1.1 million foreign visitors in the first four months of this year, representing an increase of 204 percent compared to the same period in 2022.
The largest number of visitors came from Thailand, with 430,979, followed by 224,461 from Vietnam and 223,350 from China.
The sharp increase in the number of foreign tourists follows the full revival of international travel, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as, the travel options offered by the China-Laos Railway, Lao Minister of Planning and Investment, Khamjane Vongphosy, said, at the fifth ordinary session of the National Assembly (Ninth Legislature) of Laos.
Some 1.6 million domestic and foreign tourists took trips in Laos, in the first four months of the year, representing an increase over the number of tourists recorded in the same period of 2022.
More than 485,000 of them were Lao nationals, accounting for 81 percent of the half-year target. The Lao government hopes the figure will rise to 600,000 in the first six months of the year.
Laos recorded 1,294,388 tourists visiting the country in 2022. Most international visitors came from Thailand, Vietnam, China, South Korea and the United States, according to the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.
“Our tourism town has been very quiet for a few years because of the pandemic. Now there are a lot of tourists, especially during the weekend. I am delighted to see an increase of both domestic and international visitors,” Khampha, a food vendor in Vangvieng, a tourism town in Vientiane province, told Xinhua.– NNN-XINHUA
