Promoting Ho Chi Minh City tourism in Laos

From October 22 - 29, the working group led by Ms Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism led the delegation along with representatives of several departments, branches, travel and agricultural businesses participating in the Cultural and Tourism Week in Luang Pra Bang (Laos).

This is a practical activity to promote tourism in Vietnam in general and tourism of the 8 expanded Northwest provinces and Ho Chi Minh City in particular to Lao tourism businesses.

These activities are opportunities for Ho Chi Minh City tourism businesses to approach and learn about the characteristics and development trends of Lao's market. At the same time, expand business cooperation with partners in the field of tourism; meet, trade, establish and exploit relationships with airline partners, management agencies/tourism organizations of countries to find quality customers for the 2024 Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Fair...

Laos is a neighbouring country and has very good diplomatic relations with Vietnam. It is an important gateway for Vietnam to penetrate the large market of the Asian sub-region.

Currently, Laos also identifies tourism development as one of the top priorities for economic recovery, which focuses on types of cultural and historical tourism; nature tourism; and community tourism... However, to become a key economic sector and bring in the main source of foreign exchange revenue for the country, Lao tourism needs to improve service quality and diversify tourism products to meet the needs and expectations of tourists.

At the Northwest and Ho Chi Minh City Culture and Tourism Week in Luang Pra Bang (Laos), the Ho Chi Minh City Delegation will carry out 4 main activities: Performing cultural - artistic and circus performances of Ho Chi Minh City; organising exhibition space, introduce and promote Ho Chi Minh City's tourism, trade, and agricultural products; attending seminars to promote tourism in the Northwest and Ho Chi Minh City; introduce, advertise and promote travel destinations, tourism development potential, and unique tourism products of Ho Chi Minh City to the Laos tourism market (Luang Pra Bang province).

In addition, the group also participated in a famtrip group to survey tourism destinations, products and services from Tay Tran International border gate (Dien Bien province) to Luang Pha Bang province; connecting tourism from Ho Chi Minh City, the Northwest provinces and Laos.​According to Ms Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, tourism connection with Laos is mainly by air and road. Therefore, the exploitation and development of tourism to the Lao market is still limited, especially the direct flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Laos.

"Through this Culture - Tourism Week event, some businesses expect to open 3 more routes such as: The route attracting European market visitors to 3 Indochina countries (Ho Chi Minh City - Laos - Cambodia); inter-regional travel route by road from Ho Chi Minh City to the Northwest and Laos; high-speed train routes connecting Laos and the southern provinces of China," Ms Hieu informed.