Luang Prabang enjoys sharp rise in tourist numbers on World Heritage appeal

The head of Luang Prabang province’s Information, Culture and Tourism Department, Soulithit Norkhounphol, said the official figures were not in yet but the estimates could be exceeded a bit once the final calculations are done.
“This year we expect the number of tourists will rise to more than 700,000 because there are now more flights between Luang Prabang and Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and China,” he said.
“We are also working on promoting our province to attract extra tourists, while the number of guest houses and hotels is now increasing, with some under construction, to serve domestic and overseas visitors during peak season.” 
Soulithit said his department in cooperation with the province organised a New Year countdown event with more than 160 tables, making it bigger than last year.
The province is still attracting tourists to cultural, natural and historic sites, he added.
“For the upcoming Chinese New Year at the end of this month, we expect to be full of Chinese tourists who will come to celebrate their new year, and many hotels and guesthouses will be fully booked,” he said.
Luang Prabang was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1995 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and since then has become one of the main tourist destinations in Laos.
The province has regularly been voted as Best City by Britain’s Wanderlust travel magazine. It has received the award on seven occasions from 2006 to 2015 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015).
The listing of Luang Prabang as a World Heritage Site also contributed to its economic growth, at an average of 8.2 per cent per year, with average annual income per person being 11.6 million kip (Bt51,000).
The number of tourist arrivals increased from 186,819 in 2007 to 531,327 in 2015. In 2015, there were 61 hotels and 238 guest houses with a total of 5,005 rooms, as well as 289 restaurants.