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Craft & Culture Fest Slated for December
The Heaun Chan Heritage Centre in Luang Prabang will be holding a Craft & Culture Festival from 8-12 December. Celebrate local handicrafts, culture and arts, and traditional music from 09:00-21:00.
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“Refillution” Rolls into Vientiane
The “Refillution” marched into Vientiane on 8 November, to get the ball rolling on making the Lao capital an ASEAN Clean Tourist City within a year. Luang Prabang Handle with Care Project Director Dr Hartmut Janus opened the “Laos Tourism Beats Plastic Pollution” campaign at an information reception at the Landmark Riverside Hotel. “We want to send a strong signal to make Vientiane Capital an ASEAN Clean Tourist City within the next 12 months,” Dr Janus said. The event, part of a two-day “ASEAN Clean Tourism Standard” workshop, spotlighted the global initiative, Refill My Bottle, with the aim of getting Vientiane tourism enterprises to commit to hosting a water refill station. “We want to take action, and not just talk,” Dr Janus continued. “We want tourism enterprises to make a commitment to have a water refill station at their place of business to help stop plastic waste in Vientiane Capital.” Refill My Bottle Project Manager Christine Go said the “Refillution” initiative aims to establish a refill network around the world. “We currently have 850 refill stations in ASEAN,” she said, adding they are looking for a Vientiane “ambassador” to start a refill network in the capital. Handle with Care backed the nation’s first city-wide Refill My Bottle network in Luang Prabang, where there are currently 48 refill stations. Ms Go said Refill My Bottle is launching a mobile app in two weeks. It will assist users in finding a station as well as track their impact in terms of plastic not used. GIZ spokeswoman, Ms Tuey, said millions of plastic bottles are consumed in Luang Prabang every year, and the city doesn’t have recycling facilities. The Refill My Bottle campaign in Vientiane is part of the drive to greatly reduce plastic use and meet ASEAN Clean Tourist City standards. Tri Continental Hotel Suppliers displayed their lines of biodegradable and compostable food and beverage products such as paper plates, straws, and cups as well as cutlery and plastic-like bags. The Lao Hotel and Restaurant Association along with the Lao Association of Travel Agents organized the event under the national Tourism Development Department with support from the German Development Cooperation RELATED project. To visit Refill My Bottle, click here.
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Myanmar-Laos Border Gates Receive International Status
Border crossings between Myanmar and Laos has been upgraded and given international status, according to Myanmar’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population. The ministry has upgraded the Wan Pong check point in Tachilek, Shan State, making it an international border entry point for Myanmar and Laos. It has also opened the Myanmar-Laos Friendship Bridge since September under a border cooperation agreement with the Laotians. The Myanmar-Laos Friendship Bridge links Kyainglap (Kenglap) in Tachileik district and Xieng Kok in Luang Namtha, Laos. The border agreement will allow citizens of the two countries and third country national travelers to cross the border between Myanmar and Laos through Wan Pong with the necessary visas or passports. The Myanmar-Laos Friendship Bridge was actually completed during the previous government’s term, however negotiations between both sides on third country national entry and border issues has taken more than three years, U Naung Naung Han, general secretary of Union of Myanmar Travel Association told The Myanmar Times. The Wan Pong check point is the seventh international border gate where third country national travelers with passports and visas can pass through after Myawaddy, Kawthaung, Htee Khee, Tachileik, Tamu and Rikhawdar in Myanmar. Before the upgrade, citizens from the two countries crossed the Myanmar-Laos border with limited access. There are also no direct flights between Myanmar and Laos, so third country travelers have had to pass Thailand either by air or land to enter Myanmar. “Now we can arrange trips for travelers from the two countries without passing through a third country and tourists can also depart through Myanmar at the new international gate,” U Naung Naung Han said. Notably, Russian travelers have shown interest in this new Myanmar-Laos market and a lot of enquiries for tour groups to pass through the Wan Pong gate have been made recently, he said. “We are planning two-week travel itineraries for tourists passing through the two countries,” he said. The new route will provide new opportunities for caravan tour operators in Myanmar because they can now directly drive to Cambodia and Vietnam from Myanmar through Laos via the Wan Pong checkpoint, U Kyaw Min Oo, managing director of Equal Link Tours told The Myanmar Times. “We had to go through the Thai border before. But now we are able to go where we want without passing through Thailand. That will be very effective for tourism,” he said. Each entry into Thailand is US$250. The tour company is already planning to land tours to six countries including Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam in 2019 as well as new itineraries for Laos-Myanmar caravan tours. U Aung Pyi Phyo, managing director of Marvellous Memory Travel and Tours said “there are now more opportunities for tourism to be developed at the border areas with the opening of new border gates and more job opportunities are also created. We can easily travel to neighboring countries over land which will also improve trade relations.” Source: The Myanmar Times.
