New trade corridor: Vongdavone says railway spurs Luang Prabang tourism

Vongdavone Vongxayarath (R) is interviewed by Yunnan and Chonqing reporters.

"Since its opening, passenger trains on the Lao-China Railway have brought an increasing number of Chinese, Thai and European tourists to Luang Prabang, giving a strong pull to local tourism," said Vongdavone Vongxayarath, deputy director at the Lao Luang Prabang Provincial Department of Information, Culture and Tourism.

Vongdavone was talking about the international railway’s effect to reporters with the Yunnan province and Chonqing municipality international communication centers, who are going on a series of media tours to Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and other countries these days.

Tourists visit the Luang Prabang palace museum.  

Vongdavone noted that the China-Laos railway has created favorable conditions for international tourism economy along the route and tourism cooperation and cultural exchanges in the Lancang-Mekong countries, adding his department has improved its services for international tourists over the years.

"Yunnan is a beautiful place with rich tourist resources, and we’ve had sound exchanges with Yunnan tourism practitioners. Laos and Yunnan province have carried out a lot of cooperation in cultural tourism and driven by the railway, bilateral cooperation in regional tourism is promising,” said Vongdavone.

Vongdavone Vongxayarath (R) is interviewed by Yunnan and Chonqing reporters.

Reporting by Huang Yixian, Yang Chunmei and Zi Jianfei (Yunnan Daily); Trans-editing by Wang Shixue