Post by Laoupdate on Feb 4, 2005 11:00:29 GMT -5
WORLD Tourism Organisation (WTO) Deputy Secretary-General Dr De Villiers yesterday met LNTA Chairman Somphong Mongkhonvilay at Don Chan Palace, Vang said, "The WTO has also agreed to help our guesthouses, hotels and restaurant service sectors by funding two-week training course twice a year in Madrid, Spain, and by sending experts to train our staff here."
They also discussed cooperation in regional tourism, and are proposing to apply for funds from the UNDP, he said.
Vang added that they also discussed starting safaris in the National Forest Conservation areas in the southern provinces of Attapeu and Xekong provinces, bordering Vietnam and Cambodia.
"Dr De Villiers told the LNTA chairman that
tourisms development complex and we must take considered steps, not hurried ones. If an assembly line has one weak point, it can affect the whole line," he said.
Dr De Villiers said that WTO is prepared to contribute to Laos and Laos should tell WTO what it wants.
"In the near future, a million tourists annually will come to Laos, because last year there were nearly 900,000 visitors, 70 percent from the Asian region," Vang said.
The LNTA chairman predicted that Laos would be welcoming 1.5 million international tourists by 2010. Two-thirds of tourists were interested in cultural tourism sites; 70 percent stayed from 1 to 3 days and 30 percent stayed from 6 to 7 days.
The number of international tourists had risen from 14,400 people in 1990 to 735,662 people in 2002, bringing in over US$113 million in 2002, the highest foreign currency earner in Laos.
LNTA Chairman Somphong Mongkhonvilay said, "This visit enhances our understanding of each other and deepens our relationship. It is also an important contribution to the development and promotion of our tourism."
Somgphong, who is also Minister to the Prime Minister's Office, said that last year Laos hosted the ASEAN Tourism Forum and the ASEAN Summit, and that the tourism sector is an important contributor to national social-economic development. He added that the Government had adopted tourism as one of its 8 priorities for national socio-economic development.
The WTO Deputy Secretary-General was in Laos between February 3 and 5.
Source: Vientiantimes.org.la
photo: www.visit-mekong.com/tours/laos/Images/photo_new/elephant01.jpg
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