Laos, Indonesia seek tourism business linkages
Laos, Indonesia seek tourism business linkages
A number of Indonesian travel agents are interested in establishing a tourism business linkage with Lao travel agents in an effort to boost the number of tourists from both sides.
Speaking at a meeting yesterday, Indonesian Ambassador to Laos Mr Irmawan Emir Wisnandar said both countries had attractive potential tourism sites, which could benefit the two countries.
“I expect to see an interaction and cooperation between Indonesian and Lao travel agents that will benefit both countries’ economies,” he said.
The meeting was aimed at introducing the potential of Indonesia’s tourism destinations to Lao tour operators as it enabled both sides to build business connectivity in tourism products.
He explained that connectivity on both sides was still experiencing difficulties because there was no direct flight between Laos and Indonesia, meaning that tourists would waste a lot of time in transit through a third country.
Despite the fact that the two countries face challenges due to the language barrier, limited tourism information and less infrastructure compared to most other Asean countries, there are also opportunities in relation to the geographical location of Laos on the mainland of Asean.
“Laos has direct borders with five Asian countries so tourists can continue their travel to another country by bus,” he said.
One of the travel agents from Indonesia present at the meeting, PT.Mitra Global Holiday, was also optimistic that the company would be able to take tourists from Laos to Indonesia and Indonesia to Laos.
The company’s Sales and Marketing Manager Mr Nicolas W.S. Hariyanto said he was carrying out research into destinations to work out how to bring tourists from Indonesia to Laos and from Laos to Indonesia.
“I’ve checked that people here in Laos have the purchasing power to buy travel packages to overseas,” he said, noting that the direct flight was still a challenge.
“I believe that the two governments can help us to boost bilateral cooperation by joining hands in establishing a direct flight,” Hariyanto said.
The Lao Association of Travel Agents Acting President Mr Khamtanh Keungpanynha also said that a joint meeting between Lao and Indonesian travel agents was a big step towards further cooperation in the future.
“There was no exact figure given for tourist travel from Laos to Indonesia because it was obscured by the transit issue. There are, however, more than 40,000 tourists who travel from Laos to Malaysia each year,” he said.
He explained that Indonesia would be a new strategic tourist market if Lao travel agents could obtain a share of it because Indonesia had a huge population.
“Direct flight linkage is a priority however,” Mr Khamtanh said.
More than 20 travel agents participated in the meeting as they sought to build a business match and discuss with tour operators from Indonesia on the possibility of business cooperation.
The tourism sector has recently predicted that about 3.9 million foreign tourists are now expected to arrive in Laos in 2014.
The past year’s figure was recorded at around 3.7 million visitors, a figure that exceeded expectations as officials predicted 3.5 and 3.7 million visitors for 2014 and 2015 respectively.
The 2013 tourist arrivals of 3,779,490 represented a big increase compared to 2012 when Laos welcomed just over 3.3 million visitors, who generated US$513.5 million for the economy.
vientiane times
