Laos and Thailand will officially launch a tourism connection project between the Thai province of Bueng Kan and Laos’ provinces of Borikhamxay and Xieng Khuang next month.
The scheme is part of a tourism campaign between provincial towns in the two neighbouring countries.
Director of the Xieng Khuang provincial Information, Culture and Tourism Department, Mr Vongsa Duangthongla, told Vientiane Times on Monday that Xieng Khuang province will host an opening ceremony for the tourism connection project at the end of the year with plans to invite provincial governors from Laos and Thailand’s Bueng Kan province.
The project links Bueng Kan in the Issan region of northeast Thailand to Borikhamxay in central Laos and to Xieng Khuang in the north.
The travel distance is about 230km starting in Borikhamxay province, a tourism gateway in Thailand to Xieng Khuang, a historical area known for its intriguing archeological site, the Plain of Jars.
The road is now under construction and work is almost complete. Mr Vongsa said the route will be a comfortable four-hour drive.
When tourists arrive in Xieng Khuang province they can continue to Nghe An province in Vietnam over a distance of 130km. This Vietnamese province has been considered the brother city of Xieng Khuang for many years.
These new routes will allow tour operators to organise packages that will take tourists across the region with the aim of increasing tourist footfall in the lesser known towns of Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Lao and Thai governments plan to build a fifth bridge over the Mekong River connecting Borikhamxay and Bueng Kan provinces. Currently, the only way to get between the two provinces is by ferry.
In line with the launch of Visit Laos Year 2018 during the That Luang Festival in Vientiane on October 28, Xieng Khuang authorities said they have plans in place to increase the number of visitors including those coming to the province for the Khao Kai Noy Festival (to celebrate the kai noy rice species) from November 17 to 19.
Highlights of the festival will include cultural shows, a street fair and song contests.
Mr Vongsa said that after the official, main celebration, district authorities will organise their own annual traditional festivals until the end of 2018.
Xieng Khuang province has 42 officially designated places of interest for tourists, featuring nature and cultural and historic sites.
Last year, the province received 76,000 visitors, of whom 80 percent came from other countries.
Over the first nine months of this year, 85,000 people travelled to the province and the figure is expected to climb to 150,000 in 2018.
Read full article at ANN: http://annx.asianews.network/content/laos-and-thailand-start-tourism-project-next-month-60427
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