Vientiane Capital has welcomed more than 300,000 foreign tourists this year, according to officials.
The number was revealed during a recent consultation workshop held in Vientiane on 23 September between the public sector and the business sector on ways to revive tourism.
The meeting, hosted by the Vientiane Capital Department of Information, Culture and Tourism, revealed that the number of foreign tourists who came to visit the nation’s capital through tour operators registered in Vientiane has increased to more than 5,000 people.
At the same time, over 1,000 Lao tourists traveled outbound to foreign countries through Vientiane-based tour operators, according to officials.
Tourists in Bangkok, Thailand.
Laos and Thailand Visit Each Other
Laos also made up the fifth largest nationality for tourism arrivals in Thailand, with information from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) suggesting that over 157,000 visitors from Laos arrived in Thailand between March and July this year.
Malaysian, Singaporean, Indian, and UK tourists made up the other amounts.
For the first time in more than three years, the Luang Prabang Film Festival (LPFF) returns as a free and live event, from 8 – 11 December.
The UNESCO World Heritage town of Luang Prabang, Laos, will once again host filmmakers, film industry professionals, and fans of Southeast Asian cinema at this annual event.
In cooperation with the Luang Prabang Department of Information, Culture, and Tourism, LPFF will present four days of regional film sourced, as always, exclusively from across Southeast Asia.
In 2020, LPFF presented a free virtual festival throughout the region. Twenty-four features, ten shorts, and eight film favorites from prior LPFF events reached thousands of viewers in ten countries. Further cutbacks during the pandemic made a 2021 event impossible.
This year, says LPFF Executive Director Sean Chadwell, “when our government partners approached us in May, the day the Lao borders reopened, the path back to a live event wasn’t clear at all. At that point, we had an office,” he laughs, “only because it’s the norm to pay rent here several months in advance. No staff. Nothing in the bank.”
By early June, partner commitments — from Lao Telecom, M Money, and The Asia Foundation — support from the local hospitality community, and dedicated volunteers had kick-started the effort to produce a comeback festival.
“It’s a typical story arc,” Chadwell points out, “where you think the good guy is down for the count but he manages to haul himself back up for the fight. The only thing we’re missing is the soundtrack.”
This year, audiences can expect more than 20 feature films from across Southeast Asia, public discussions and Q&A sessions with visiting filmmakers, and the easygoing, cinephilic atmosphere for which LPFF is known.
The festival is also known for big crowds — Luang Prabang has no operating movie theater, so its December event is a rare treat for local audiences. More than 1,000 viewers routinely fill its main night venue, which showcases primarily Lao and Thai content. This year, LPFF will add a second, smaller night venue in order to offer a few more selections from around the rest of the region.
From 2016 through 2019, LPFF also hosted a regional Talent Lab for developing concepts for feature films, in cooperation with the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI). “That won’t yet return,” Chadwell says, “but since TFI’s dissolution in 2020 we’ve quietly been working on delivering Labs again in 2023.”
He points out that two recent Southeast Asian successes, Kavich Neang’s White Building (2021, Cambodia) and Martika Ramirez Escobar’s Leonor Will Never Die (2022, Philippines) were both at the LPFF Talent Lab in 2016. “We can’t wait to welcome filmmaker creatives back to Luang Prabang,” he says.
In May 2022, Laos fully opened to international tourists. Hotels and guesthouses, restaurants and outdoor food courts, the Luang Prabang night market, shops and tourist attractions such as Kuang Si Waterfalls and the National Museum (the former Royal Palace) in Luang Prabang have reopened to welcome visitors. The Lao e-visa is now available for tourists as well as visa on arrival at select entry points.
A full festival line-up will be announced in October. All festival events are open to the public and free of charge.
LPFF receives support from corporate sponsors, non-governmental organizations, embassies, and private donors to celebrate Southeast Asian film at the festival and to support the ongoing development of the Lao film industry year-round.
https://www.tourismlaos.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Luang-Prabang-Film-Festival-696x364-1.jpg364696Sylivanla Vongphachanhhttps://www.tourismlaos.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Lao-Simply-Beautiful-.webpSylivanla Vongphachanh2022-09-26 15:14:032022-09-26 15:14:07Luang Prabang Film Festival to Return in December
Lao Airlines has released its long-awaited winter schedule, bringing back major routes.
Lao airlines has announced on social media that it will be bringing back certain flight routes and increasing the number of certain routes which were reduced or discontinued during the pandemic.
A tourism insider posted the Lao Airlines flight schedule for the upcoming season to social media, revealing that certain popular flights–including services to Luang Prabang, Siem Reap, and Pakse–will return starting 1 November of this year.
The Lao Airlines winter flight schedule posted to social media.
The addition of these flights has been long awaited by Lao tourism professionals whose industry has been hit hard by a lack of customers.
A tourism professional who spoke to The Laotian Times before the schedule release identified a lack of connecting flights as a serious hindrance to the recovery of the Lao tourism industry, especially because tourists may stay in other destinations due to a lack of connecting flights.
“Important tourist routes are not yet operating,” he said, “especially Luang Prabang to Hanoi, Chiangmai, Siem Reap, and Pakse. If they can at least tell us when they are planning to restart the popular tourist routes we can open the booking system so we can start filling seats and selling tours using them. We can’t sell something that isn’t there.”
Now that these flights have been announced, tours can be planned with more certainty, a benefit to both the tourism industry and the Lao economy as a whole.
While fewer than 200 South Korean tourists entered Laos in the first half of 2022, Lao Airlines increasing its Incheon route to five flights per week will likely draw more South Korean visitors.
Lao Airlines, which has operated at a loss for several years, is also set to be reformed under a new plan to overhaul state enterprises.
https://www.tourismlaos.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ross-parmly-rf6ywHVkrlY-unsplash-696x462-1.jpg462696Sylivanla Vongphachanhhttps://www.tourismlaos.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Lao-Simply-Beautiful-.webpSylivanla Vongphachanh2022-09-19 14:21:002022-09-12 14:23:04Lao Airlines Reinstates Major Routes in New Winter Schedule
Over 300,000 Tourists Visit Laos Capital in 2022
Vientiane Capital has welcomed more than 300,000 foreign tourists this year, according to officials.
The number was revealed during a recent consultation workshop held in Vientiane on 23 September between the public sector and the business sector on ways to revive tourism.
The meeting, hosted by the Vientiane Capital Department of Information, Culture and Tourism, revealed that the number of foreign tourists who came to visit the nation’s capital through tour operators registered in Vientiane has increased to more than 5,000 people.
At the same time, over 1,000 Lao tourists traveled outbound to foreign countries through Vientiane-based tour operators, according to officials.
Laos and Thailand Visit Each Other
Laos also made up the fifth largest nationality for tourism arrivals in Thailand, with information from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) suggesting that over 157,000 visitors from Laos arrived in Thailand between March and July this year.
Malaysian, Singaporean, Indian, and UK tourists made up the other amounts.
During the same period, Laos recorded a steady stream of visitors from Thailand, with the high-speed Laos-China Railway being a big attraction.
Most Thai tourists visited the UNESCO Heritage Town of Luang Prabang, as well as short stays in Vang Vieng and Vientiane Capital.
Source: https://laotiantimes.com/2022/10/03/over-300000-tourists-visit-laos-capital-in-2022/
Luang Prabang Film Festival to Return in December
For the first time in more than three years, the Luang Prabang Film Festival (LPFF) returns as a free and live event, from 8 – 11 December.
The UNESCO World Heritage town of Luang Prabang, Laos, will once again host filmmakers, film industry professionals, and fans of Southeast Asian cinema at this annual event.
In cooperation with the Luang Prabang Department of Information, Culture, and Tourism, LPFF will present four days of regional film sourced, as always, exclusively from across Southeast Asia.
In 2020, LPFF presented a free virtual festival throughout the region. Twenty-four features, ten shorts, and eight film favorites from prior LPFF events reached thousands of viewers in ten countries. Further cutbacks during the pandemic made a 2021 event impossible.
This year, says LPFF Executive Director Sean Chadwell, “when our government partners approached us in May, the day the Lao borders reopened, the path back to a live event wasn’t clear at all. At that point, we had an office,” he laughs, “only because it’s the norm to pay rent here several months in advance. No staff. Nothing in the bank.”
By early June, partner commitments — from Lao Telecom, M Money, and The Asia Foundation — support from the local hospitality community, and dedicated volunteers had kick-started the effort to produce a comeback festival.
“It’s a typical story arc,” Chadwell points out, “where you think the good guy is down for the count but he manages to haul himself back up for the fight. The only thing we’re missing is the soundtrack.”
This year, audiences can expect more than 20 feature films from across Southeast Asia, public discussions and Q&A sessions with visiting filmmakers, and the easygoing, cinephilic atmosphere for which LPFF is known.
The festival is also known for big crowds — Luang Prabang has no operating movie theater, so its December event is a rare treat for local audiences. More than 1,000 viewers routinely fill its main night venue, which showcases primarily Lao and Thai content. This year, LPFF will add a second, smaller night venue in order to offer a few more selections from around the rest of the region.
From 2016 through 2019, LPFF also hosted a regional Talent Lab for developing concepts for feature films, in cooperation with the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI). “That won’t yet return,” Chadwell says, “but since TFI’s dissolution in 2020 we’ve quietly been working on delivering Labs again in 2023.”
He points out that two recent Southeast Asian successes, Kavich Neang’s White Building (2021, Cambodia) and Martika Ramirez Escobar’s Leonor Will Never Die (2022, Philippines) were both at the LPFF Talent Lab in 2016. “We can’t wait to welcome filmmaker creatives back to Luang Prabang,” he says.
In May 2022, Laos fully opened to international tourists. Hotels and guesthouses, restaurants and outdoor food courts, the Luang Prabang night market, shops and tourist attractions such as Kuang Si Waterfalls and the National Museum (the former Royal Palace) in Luang Prabang have reopened to welcome visitors. The Lao e-visa is now available for tourists as well as visa on arrival at select entry points.
A full festival line-up will be announced in October. All festival events are open to the public and free of charge.
LPFF receives support from corporate sponsors, non-governmental organizations, embassies, and private donors to celebrate Southeast Asian film at the festival and to support the ongoing development of the Lao film industry year-round.
To stay up-to-date on the Luang Prabang Film Festival and its activities, follow the project on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lpfilmfest) or visit its website (www.lpfilmfest.org).
Source: https://laotiantimes.com/2022/09/17/luang-prabang-film-festival-to-return-in-december/
Lao Airlines Reinstates Major Routes in New Winter Schedule
Lao Airlines has released its long-awaited winter schedule, bringing back major routes.
Lao airlines has announced on social media that it will be bringing back certain flight routes and increasing the number of certain routes which were reduced or discontinued during the pandemic.
A tourism insider posted the Lao Airlines flight schedule for the upcoming season to social media, revealing that certain popular flights–including services to Luang Prabang, Siem Reap, and Pakse–will return starting 1 November of this year.
The addition of these flights has been long awaited by Lao tourism professionals whose industry has been hit hard by a lack of customers.
A tourism professional who spoke to The Laotian Times before the schedule release identified a lack of connecting flights as a serious hindrance to the recovery of the Lao tourism industry, especially because tourists may stay in other destinations due to a lack of connecting flights.
“Important tourist routes are not yet operating,” he said, “especially Luang Prabang to Hanoi, Chiangmai, Siem Reap, and Pakse. If they can at least tell us when they are planning to restart the popular tourist routes we can open the booking system so we can start filling seats and selling tours using them. We can’t sell something that isn’t there.”
Now that these flights have been announced, tours can be planned with more certainty, a benefit to both the tourism industry and the Lao economy as a whole.
While fewer than 200 South Korean tourists entered Laos in the first half of 2022, Lao Airlines increasing its Incheon route to five flights per week will likely draw more South Korean visitors.
Lao Airlines, which has operated at a loss for several years, is also set to be reformed under a new plan to overhaul state enterprises.
Source: https://laotiantimes.com/2022/08/25/lao-airlines-reinstates-major-routes-in-new-winter-schedule/