by Sisay Vilaysack
Even though it has been supporting the local government for many years, the Luang Prabang View Hotel looks forward to continuing to support social activities, including the Visit Laos Year 2018 campaign.
The hotel’s management says that although business is important, backing for social activities is also part of their vision, especially in promoting Luang Prabang and Laos as a tourist destination.
This month, the hotel is lending its support to the Folksong Festival with Kindness, along with Mr Troy Matusow from Asia One.
This brings stakeholders to the table to help make the competition exciting and fruitful for the children of Luang Prabang province.
Talking to Vientiane Times recently, the General Manager of the Luang Prabang View Hotel, Mr John Morris Williams, described the ways in which his hotel is involved in the development of tourism.
For the past four years the hotel has taken part in FAM familiarisation trips to Luang Prabang by groups from all over the world.
“Our next FAM trip will be a joint support from Singapore’s Silk Air and local stakeholders from Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. In the past they’ve come from JATA Japan, the UK and German destinations,” he said.
“In assisting with FAM trips this helps overseas agents and their partners get to understand Laos and Luang Prabang at ground level for themselves. They can then speak and talk about their experiences and hopefully this brings more attention when they do promotions for Laos for their clients,” Mr Williams said.
“We attend meetings when requested to discuss and give our point of view to support new avenues that may come up – it’s nice to be able to sit down and give some suggestions,” he added.
“At the Luang Prabang View Hotel we diversify our market to ensure we gain the most from all destinations. European markets including the UK and groups from Turkey and the Middle East and, of course, China, South Korea, Japan are hugecontributors for us.”
“In previous years, the hotel was responsible for setting up the old stadium at That Luang for the Lao New Year festival, and for the 20th anniversary for setting up and supporting the government with the Elephant Caravan as did many other stakeholders in the town,” he added.
When asked about the business opportunities the hotel expected to benefit from through the Visit Laos Year 2018 campaign, Mr Williams said “In truth we may not see much due to the late distribution of information. In my opinion, we should look at this kind of campaign at least four years out after the previous campaign, when everything is still fresh in the mind.”
“We have some fabulous attractions as a green destination ready for eco-tourism along with heritage and cultural aspects countrywide that need to be showcased all year round to attract new markets and support the tourism industry as a whole,” he added.
Source: Vientiane Times
