According to its new socio-economic development plan report, the Lao governmentsaid if the country does not have enough COVID-19 vaccines, the target will be reducedto 1.5 billion USD in revenue, and around 6 million in arrivals.
The Vietnam News Agency (VNA)'s correspondent in Vientiane quoted the report, saying that thenumber of visitors to the country increased to 4.79 million in 2019 from 4.23million in 2016. The figure was estimated to reach only 980,000 in 2020 due totravel restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19.
As part of efforts to revive the tourism sector, the Lao government launched aninitiative to stimulate domestic tourism demand.
The tourism industry will play a more important role in the Lao economy in the2021-2025 period.
Laos is seeking to further strengthen tourism integration and cooperation, andcoordination with its neighbours in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.
It will also focus on developing ecological, cultural and historical tourism, whileimproving the quality of tourism services and products, towards increasing incomesfor local people./.
VNA