More funds needed for overseas tourism promotion
More funds needed for overseas tourism promotion
Laos needs to increase the amount it invests in tourism promotion via overseas channels if it wants to attract 7 million visitors by 2020, an official in the sector has said.
The official from the Tourism Market Department, who asked not to be named, suggested the budget for tourism promotion should be US$50,000-US$100,000 annually.
He said the government was still unable to increase its tourism promotional spending overseas, which is important if the country is to attract large numbers of visitors.
For example, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia have large pools of funding to air advertising spots on CNN, one of the world's most watched television channels.
As a result, these countries are attracting millions of tourists each year.
The official said Laos had untouched beautiful natural places and the people's simple lifestyle charms were not being advertised to overseas audiences. His hope was that the government would boost future marketing.
Meanwhile, Head of the Tourism Promotion Department, Mr Nithisak, said the department received only 50 million kip annually to spend on promotion.
This was far short of the budgets allocated in other Asean countries.
Mr Nithisak said the department planned to run advertisements on CNN over the next two years as it was hoped more funding would be forthcoming.
In the meantime, the department is working with Asean websites in a bid to add information on Laos' attractions, hoping this will become an effective medium in promoting the nation across the region.
In 2014, the department created an advertising campaign on YouTube and Facebook using the slogan Simply Laos, w hich helped boost visitor arrivals.
Laos welcomed 4.3 million visitors in 2015; an increase of 4 percent from 2014 and it is expected the number will top 4.7 million by the end of this year, with a target of 7 million visitors set for 2020.
The department will continue to cooperate with other Asean countries to build networks with tourism agencies to increase visitor numbers to the region.
