Laos is officially open to foreign tourists

 Laos is officially open to foreign tourists

Laos officially opened to foreign tourists from January 1, 2022. This is the first step in the national opening-up plan to restore the economy and shape society to a "new normal".

A tourist destination in Luang Prabang province that is popular with foreign tourists when traveling to Laos. (Photo: Xuan Son)

Laos officially opened to welcome foreign tourists to visit the green tourist areas of Laos; The relevant ministries, branches and agencies of Laos have completed the preparations and are ready to welcome tourists to Laos through the Wattay international airport border gate and the Laos-Thai Friendship Bridge international border gate. According to the plan, only these two international border gates will be allowed to welcome foreign tourists entering Laos. Laos accepts citizens of 31 countries, including Vietnam, who are allowed to enter Laos under this tourism program.

In order to prepare for the work of welcoming foreign tourists to Laos, in the past few days, the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism coordinated with the Ministry of Health and related sectors to organize drills and pilot projects. welcome foreign tourists to travel in the green areas of Laos starting from Wattay international airport, Vientiane capital to deal with the case of tourists infected with Covid-19 and other problems that may occur during this time. travel time in Laos.

The actual exercise this time was conducted at Wattay international airport, hotels, some restaurants and tourist attractions; The rehearsal is conducted according to the steps from when tourists get off the plane, check their temperature, take samples for testing, do immigration procedures, tour staff lead the group to the car to take visitors to the hotel. regulations, medical hygiene services at the hotel according to Laosafe standards, bringing visitors to tourist green areas, safe restaurants, souvenir shops...

Lao Deputy Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Ounthuang Khaophanh said that the pilot drill to welcome tourists this time is to ensure that foreign tourists are satisfied with health, hygiene and epidemiological issues when traveling in Laos. tourist green areas of Laos; This exercise is to check the readiness of sectors, especially the inspection of people on exit and entry of sectors such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs related to visa issuance, the Ministry of Health related to inspection work. inspect and protect the health of visitors and the readiness of related industries; rehearsing steps to welcome tourists upon arrival at the hotel, in case the tourist is positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus and other procedures to create confidence for tourists.

Tourist areas are classified into two categories: Green Travel Zone and Green Travel Trail. The tourism green zone phase one includes localities such as Vientiane Capital, Luang Prabang city and districts of Luang Prabang province, Vangvieng district of Vientiane province, because these localities have many tourist attractions that are popular with tourists. . The tourist green route includes 5 provinces: Oudomxay, Xayaburi, Xiengkhouang, Khammouane and Champasak.

Tourists who want to travel in the tourist green areas of Laos must follow the group through the service of a travel company according to the list of companies specified in the framework of the tourist green zone; not allowed to enter the country sporadically, dispersedly, without the service of a travel agency without the permission of the Special Board, must receive a full dose of Covid-19 vaccine for more than 14 days; have life insurance, have a certificate of negative test for Covid-19 by PT-PCR device no later than 72 hours before departure; when arriving in Laos, they must be tested for Covid-19 at the border gate and must be isolated for 24 hours to wait for test results; if the visitor's test result is negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the traveler can go to tourist green areas; Before going to the tourist destination, visitors must download the LaoStay Safe application to register and declare full dose vaccination information, visitors must buy health insurance with a minimum guarantee of 50,000 USD.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic in the past 2 years has severely affected the socio-economic development of Laos, in which, the tourism industry has been affected the most; Although the situation of the Covid-19 epidemic in Laos has not tended to decrease, Laos has not stopped making efforts to continue to restore the tourism industry, because this is an industry with many potentials and strengths, which will help restore the economy. Laos in the near future.