Long-haul visitors top spenders in Laos
TOURISTS from outside the region are outspending those from neighbouring countries in visits to Laos, although arrivals from Asean countries jumped 92 per cent last year from the previous year.
A report from Laos’ Tourism Development Department, under the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, said the number of international tourists reached over 396,000, generating revenue of over US$396 million. The number of tourists from Asia and the Pacific topped 3.5 million, generating only US$328 million in revenue. Most of the regional tourists came from Thailand, Vietnam, China and Cambodia.
Statistics also showed that revenue from international tourists was higher than that from regional tourists because their length of stay averaged over 7 days per person, with average daily spending of US$76 per person.
Meanwhile, tourists from regional countries averaged a stay of one to three days per person, spending from US$12 to US$52 per day per person. Most regional tourists also had multiple ways of entering Laos at their disposal, including the use of passports, border passes and a day-tripper pass.
In 2016, the total number of tourist arrivals in Laos reached more than 4.2 million, which was a decrease from 4.6 million people in 2015. For 2016, tourism revenue was more than US$724 million, down from US$725 million in 2015.
Thais top
Among tourist source countries, Thailand was still on top with over 2 million visitors followed by Vietnam with 1.1 million arrivals. The country also saw over 545,000 Chinese visitors.
Meanwhile, Champassak province was the top ranked destination, attracting nearly 400,000 visitors. It was followed by Vientiane province with over 360,000 people, Savannakhet province with over 335,000 visitors and Luang Prabang province with 173,000 tourists.
In contrast, the report showed that Xieng Khuang province received around 11,000 people, the lowest number of visitors. To attract more tourists to the country, the government is trying to promote its tourism attractions around the country, hoping to increase the number of visitors in the lead up to “2018 Visit Laos Year”.
More than 4.8 million tourists are estimated to visit the country this year, bringing revenue of over US$843 million, while the number of tourists is also expected to top 7.5 million people with over US$1.3 billion in revenue by 2025.
