Finnish and Danish travellers decreased in Laos in 2019

Photo: Stacie Flinner

Laos welcomed 4.58 million international visitors in 2019, representing growth of nine percent over 2018 when tourist numbers failed to reach the target.

Local daily Vientiane Times quoted Director General of the Tourism Marketing Department under Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Sounh Manivong on 8th January 2020, as saying that much of the success was due to the Visit Laos-China Year 2019 campaign. The number of Chinese tourists alone increased by 27 percent or 1.02 million people.

According to Xinhuanet, visitors from Thailand rose by six percent while Vietnamese visitors increased by 11 percent. Tourist arrivals from many Western countries also increased, with the number coming from the United States rising by 22 percent, while visitors from Britain also increased by 22 percent.

The number of French visitors rose by 11 percent and German tourists increased by 13 percent, said the report.

In comparison, visitor numbers from Denmark fell by 27 percent, from Finland plummeted by 28 percent,Swiss visitors declined by 18 percent, South Korea dropped by one percent.

Northern Laos’ Luang Prabang province, some 220 km north of the capital Vientiane, ranks 11th in Architectural Digest’s annual list of the top 20 places to travel in 2020, which will help push the department’s target of 4.9 million visitors for this year.

Nevertheless, the Tourism Marketing Department will continue promoting Laos at major international tourism exhibitions in China and Europe.

About Zazithorn Ruengchinda

ScandAsia Journalist • Scandinavian Publishing Co., Ltd. • Bangkok Thailand

View all posts by Zazithorn Ruengchinda

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *