Laos is among the top 15 tourism markets of Vietnam, while the latter is the second largest tourism market for the former. Two tourism and culture introduction programmes held in each country on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Vietnam-Laos Friendship and Cooperation Agreement will provide opportunities for cultural and tourism development cooperation.
Speaking at the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Le Khanh Hai, said, “The simultaneous organisation of two programmes – Lao Culture Tourism Day in Vietnam and Vietnamese Culture Tourism Day in Laos – is significant to the building up and strengthening of the friendship, traditional solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos, especially in tourism cooperation.”
Vietnam and Laos have signed many tourism cooperation agreements, including the Tourism Cooperation Agreement in 1991; and the Culture, Arts and Tourism Cooperation Plan in 2016 – 2020. In tourism, the two countries cooperate closely in various regional forums such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), and Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) – Four Nations, One Destination.
Laos has many favourable conditions such as border sharing, easy and convenient traffic connections both by road and by air. The two countries’ cultures have both distinctive identities and similarities. Besides close tourism cooperation, the two peoples have good traditional friendship, a good condition for tourism development.
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), in 2016, mutual tourist exchanges reached more than 1.13 million arrivals, including more than 137,000 Lao tourists visiting Vietnam and more than one million Vietnamese tourists going to Laos. Laos is among the top 15 tourism markets of Vietnam, while the latter is the second largest tourism market for the former. In the first six months of 2017, Vietnam welcomed over 68,000 Lao visitors, an increase of 22 per cent over the same period of 2016. In addition, a large number of tourists from third countries, especially European countries, the United States, Australia and Japan, travel to both Laos and Vietnam on their journeys to heritages and legacies in both nations like Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Vat Phou in Laos and Ha Long, Hue and Hoi An in Vietnam.
Together with the Lao Culture Tourism Day in Vietnam, the Vietnamese Culture Tourism Day in Laos Programme will introduce the Exhibition on “60 Colours of Vietnam” to Lao people, showcasing 60 photos of heritages, landscapes, people and life in Vietnam, particularly natural heritages, tangible and intangible cultural heritages recognised as UNESCO world cultural heritages. The exhibition also introduces space for four tourism products of Vietnam; Vietnamese musical instruments; Vietnamese traditional ao dai; and Vietnamese famous handicrafts. Notably, the event also features an exhibition corner for 500 books on social sciences, literature, history, children, country and people of Vietnam and Laos, Vietnam-Laos friendship in three languages: Vietnamese, Lao and English.
Giang Tu
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