Earlier this year, the Lao government had targeted to attract around 5 million tourists and earn around US$900 million this year. Unfortunately, recent local reports quoted Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Bosengkham Vongdala as telling a parliament’s session that the goal may not be realised this year. In the first half of the year, the figure seemed hopeful enough at 2.1 million.

Recent reports have revealed that Indonesia is hoping to attract 3.5 million Chinese tourists to visit various tourist destinations in the country next year. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya expressed optimism that the target of 3.5 million Chinese tourist arrivals for 2019 would be achieved after the ministry designated Singapore as a hub for the Indonesian tourism market."Our weakness is that we do not have many direct flights.

Last week, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen claimed that the number of tourists visiting Cambodia had increased substantially over the years and now the country is expecting 12 million tourists by 2025. He was rationalising the building of new airports in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap to 18,000 workers in the Kandal province."France’s Vinci, the company overseeing airports in Cambodia, never expected the high growth of tourists travelling by air to Cambodia.

A recent news report in Thailand has revealed that Thai netizens do not believe official government statistics regarding the actual number of tourist arrivals to the country. Several readers of a popular local news portal wrote similar comments in response to a statement made by the Sports and Tourism Minister. Some even made snide remarks attempting to point out just how ludicrous the statement was.

Faced with dwindling tourist numbers from the West, Myanmar is pulling out all stops to woo visitors closer to home. It has relaxed visa rules to visitors from China, South Korea and Japan and aims to bring about half a million of them over to Mandalay this year.Beginning 1 October this year, the country has waived visa requirements for visitors from Japan and South Korea for one year, as a trial run. Visitor growth from these two countries had been stagnating for a while.

A van arrives at Angkor Wat Temple and deposits its load of foreigners who make their way to the World Heritage Site. Noticeably absent among them is a local guide. The tourists brought their own guide, a handheld device that can speak up to 14 languages.Developed by local company Angkor Audio, the device enables foreign tourists the luxury of wandering the ancient site at their own leisure without being harried and rushed along by local guides.

Tourism is a powerful tool for development. It represents 10 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) and provides 10 percent of jobs globally. The sector is also interlinked with every other sector in the economy.

When the organisers of the Mekong Tourism Forum (MTF) were looking for a venue for their 2017 event, they weren’t quite sure if Lao PDR’s UNESCO World Heritage town Luang Prabang would be able to handle the magnitude of the event. The ancient town located at the confluence of the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers in northern Lao PDR is considered by many as the heart of Laotian culture.

In the first quarter of 2018, Southeast Asia saw a 9.4 percent increase in tourist arrivals, which is the largest number recorded amongst all regions. This figure exceeds the already robust six percent average growth for global tourism during the same period. Within the Southeast Asian region, Thailand recorded the highest arrival of foreign tourists in 2017 at 35 million.

From the bizarre looking balut in the Philippines to the hearty bakso in Indonesia, Southeast Asia is a food haven, a gastronomical paradise unlike any other. A microcosm of Asia, cuisine in the region is very much influenced by recipes from China, India, and the Middle East, among others.