Visit Laos-China Year 2019 Enhancing Cultural and Economic Cooperation

Abstract

The Visit Laos-China Year 2019 was launched on January 25, 2019, in Vientiane, the capital. Laos has announced plans to draw more Chinese tourists to the landlocked country that stands at the heart of the Mekong Region. The Lao Government predicts that there will be over 6.2 million tourists, almost the same with population size, to visit the country in 2020 and its tourism revenue will reach 1 billion U.S. dollars. Based on an analysis of this trend and other developments, it is very likely that Chinese tourist arrivals will account for a bigger share of the Lao tourism market. This is due to the emerging middle class in China. Chinese people are becoming wealthier, and this will enable them to travel around the region, including the Mekong countries. Laos is building a railway from its border with China to the capital Vientiane. Improved land transport connectivity will lead to more Chinese tourists coming to Laos. With the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos’ strategy of “turning itself from a land-locked country into a land-linked country” providing constant motive force to trade and economic cooperation, the two countries have carried out a series of fruitful cooperation in mutual connectivity, energy, construction of economic zones, etc. At present, there are considerable potentials for investment between the two countries in agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, tourism, etc. The construction and opening to traffic of the China-Laos railway will further promote bilateral cooperation in construction material, service industry, logistics, catering, ecological agriculture, as well as processing, mining, light industry, etc.