Post by Laoupdate on Jan 26, 2005 20:47:36 GMT -5
Travel to Laos is picking up
Budget airlines and visa-free travel help make it the country to see
While Hong Kong and Singapore are always the big draws for Thai travelers during a peak holiday weeks, Luang Prabang in neighbouring Laos is gaining attention from local travel agents who claim it is getting so popular that the destination needs more airline seats and, just a bit further down the track, more hotels. Already it is proving difficult to confirm room bookings during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday week and this could become critical enough for some tour operators to arrange charter flights, as happened during Christmas and New Year.
Apart from its growing popularity there are also other reasons for the shortfall in seats. PB Air suspended services to Luang Prabang late last year, while national airline Lao Airlines also has reduced seat capacity from Vientiane.
Despite these setbacks, travelers are clamouring to book a short break in the town that was once the royal capital. It still has an old-world ambience despite attempts to modernise its streets and build hotels and resorts for tourists.
Over Christmas and New Year, tour operators used Phuket Air charters to get their customers to Luang Prabang and will consider similar options for Chinese New Year.
Thai Airways International sells one of the most competitive airfares to Luang Prabang, approximately 2,000 baht cheaper than other airlines, to compensate for the stop in Chiang Mai, which adds another hour to the flight.
However, it provides only 210 seats a week on three services using the 70-seat ATR.
In contrast, Bangkok Airways sells a non-stop service from Bangkok and delivers 980 seats per week with two daily services.
Lao Airlines is the third option, with three daily flights from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, but the single daily service from Bangkok to Vientiane does not connect with any of them, forcing travelers to stay overnight in Vientiane.
North by Northeast, a company specialising in travel to Isan and neighbouring countries, is recommending that companies in Bangkok consider incentive travel to Luang Prabang, when they decide to reward staff who reach their sales targets.
The travel agency claims it can deliver an environmentally friendly incentive itinerary by including what it calls eco-day programmes or glimpses of the real Luang Prabang.
What that means is that the successful sales executives get to drive their own samlor, join boat rallies to Hmong villages, harthingy and net river fish, weave baskets and join the seasonal pineapple harvesting.
Sounds like hard work to me, but then company outings are famous for packing in a week's activity in a day.
Travel to Laos is cheaper for Thai citizens than most, since they save the $30 visa fee, get visa-free entry and permission to roam throughout the country for up to 30 days.
Rules for border passes remain the same, but Thai travelers using their passport save this $30 as well, and the convenience should encourage more frequent travel from Thailand.
The visa-free agreement works both ways, by allowing Lao citizens a 30-day stay in Thailand.
Implemented just 20 days ago, it is too early to say just how many more Thais will take advantage of the visa-free entry, but tourism businesses in Udon Thani believe it could help them improve their own revenue from domestic tourism as well as improve cross-border traffic to Vientiane in Laos.
The town's chamber of commerce wants visitors to stop in Udon Thani long enough to try the home-stay option around the Ban Chiang World Heritage site, visit handicraft villages and join in eco-tourism activities such as riding oxcarts in national parks.
A factor that weighs in their favour is the daily service operated by three low-cost airlines _ Thai AirAsia, Nok Air and One-Two-Go _ as well as the full service airlines Phuket Air and THAI. Their main traffic comes from local business travelers, but there is another consideration _ Udon Thani has the nearest domestic airport to Vientiane.
The attention has turned Udon Thani from what was once a sleepy airport with a few flights a day into a busy airport with competing airlines increasing frequency.
Recently the low-cost airlines added nine daily services that saw passenger arrivals increase from approximately 900 to 1,500 persons a day. Most were Thais on business or leisure trips to Udon Thani, Nong Khai and Vientiane.
The fare on a low-cost airline to Udon Thani and the bus transfer to Vientiane via the Friendship Bridge at Nong Khai is about half of the Bangkok-Vientiane fare.
Even THAI quotes a roundtrip fare Bangkok-Udon Thani at 3,500 baht compared with 8,900 baht for a round-trip fare to Vientiane.
Passengers can fly to Udon Thani and connect with an air-conditioned mini-bus at the airport for the 75-km trip to Vientiane. The fare is 80 baht.
Lead-in fares start at 498 baht on Nok Air, while Thai AirAsia charges 577 baht and THAI with just 1,405 baht is of course more flexible, allowing changes without losing the fare.
It takes an hour to the Friendship Bridge or Tha Sadet checkpoint, open daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m, and another 20 to 30 minutes depending on the queue to pass through the two immigration checkpoints.
From the bridge to Vientiane takes another 40 minutes to the town centre's main business hotel, the Lao Plaza.
Hotels could be sporting little green leaves over the reception counter alongside the star rating they should have earned from the Thai Hotels Associations grading scheme if a TAT plan works out.
Exactly a year ago, the Tourism Authority of Thailand's deputy governor for international marketing, Pornsiri Manoharn, presented the standard scheme to grade hotels according to how environmentally friendly they are.
Asean's national tourist offices took on board the proposal and have since held seminars attended by representatives of the ministries of tourism and tourism offices from the 10 member countries. They discussed the matter all over again at their annual meeting earlier this week in Langkawi, Malaysia.
Based on the success of the Green Leaf Association awards, a similar grading system will be created for the region, standardised so travelers can recognise the environmentally friendly properties in each of the 10 countries.
The next step is to establish the guidelines and criteria for the rating and, of course, to find a different name and logo from Green Leaf. Let's hope it gains a wider acceptance than the Thai Hotels Association star rating.
Source: www.bangkokpost.com/en/Outlook/27Jan2005_out05.php
Photo: www.pbase.com/alesmith/image/26477335
www.laoupdate.com team