Lao travel agents struggle to source regional customers
Lao travel agents struggle to source regional customers
Lao travel agents have not gained much benefit from rising tourist arrivals to the country as the majority of travelers do not use tour and travel services.
According to the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism there were 3.7 million tourist arrivals in Laos in 2013, about a 13 percent increase on the previous year.
However, studies by the Tourism Development Department ascertained that of the total tourist arrivals in the year, only 165,000 odd used the services of travel agents.
The annual report on tourism development in Laos, which was released last week, does not provide details on why the majority of tourists do not want to use the services of travel agents.
However tourism officials acknowledged that most of the tourists visiting Laos in 2013 were from neighbouring countries including Thailand, Vietnam and China.
These people did not use the service of Lao travel agents but rather travel agents in their own countries, which provide one day tours in neighbouring Lao towns.
Each day dozens of big Thai vans can be seen carrying Thai tourists from Nongkhai province to Vientiane, where they have lunch before returning to their country on the same day.
Over the past years, Lao travel agents have been complaining that Laos should not allow Thai travel companies to bring tourists into Laos directly.
The Thai travel agents should be made to cooperate with Lao travel agents to bring the tourists into the country.
Large numbers of those classed as tourist arrivals in Laos are not really tourists but people seeking work or business opportunities in Laos.
These people only use tourist visas to enter Laos so as they can stay and work in the country, artificially inflating the number of tourist arrivals.
According to the report, 54 percent of total tourist arrivals were from Thailand, 24 percent were from Vietnam, 6.48 percent were from China and 2.16 percent were from South Korea. Only 5.6 percent of the tourists coming to Laos are from European nations and the USA.
Travels agent officials said most of the tourists which purchased package tours from Lao tour companies were more affluent travelers from developed nations such as Germany, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and the USA, which have higher purchasing power.
Lao travel agents also need to make the price of some of the package tours they offer lower so as they can attract more tourists from Asean.
Many countries including Malaysia and Singapore sell package tours to their countries at competitive prices, meaning that a number of Lao people now find tours to other Asean countries affordable.
Laos also needs to promote Lao tourism facilities in developed countries so the country can welcome more high-end tourists.
According to the Lao Association of Travel Agents, there are more than a hundred travel agents in Laos.
These tour companies provide a wide range of services including providing tourists with guide services, transport services and accommodation services.
Lao authorities estimate that the country earned US$595 million from the tourism industry last year.
vientiane times
