This is according to the information shared by the Tourism Marketing Department of the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism for the first nine months of the year.
With Laos getting wonderful publicity from international magazines like National Geographic and Wanderlust, the country has welcomed 1,701,806 tourists until September. A majority of them were Lao nationals (1,037,050) but there has also been an increase in the number of foreign tourists and 644,756 of them visited Laos during this time.
More than half of the international travelers have been from Thailand (364,515), keen to get on the high-speed Laos-China Railway and travel to tourist destinations like Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. Despite closed borders, China came in second with 18,902 of its citizens visiting Laos followed by South Korea with 9,885 visitors, the US with 6,695, and 6,379 travelers reported from Cambodia.
Travel figures for Lao nationals are also 40% more compared to 2021 which generated an income of USD 117 million. The revenue from foreign tourists was over USD 100 million.
Albeit their closed borders Chinese tourists were able to enter Laos through flights to Vientiane’s Wattay International airport, or they crossed via the Laos-Thai Friendship bridge in the capital and some also used the border crossing option in the Golden Triangle area.
Government officials expect around 300,000 international tourists in the last quarter of the year. Through exhibitions, fairs, and the development of new tourism-related products, the government has joined hands with local business to provide the best travel experience to visitors.
