Bruno Vincent

Centara has inked a deal that will give it the management of three hotels in Laos by 2020. TTR Weekly is reporting that Centara’s chairman, Suthikiati Chirathivat, signed off on the management MOU with Asia Investment Development & Construction Sole Company, a well-established investment and construction firm in Laos.   The agreement paves the way … Read more

The Sustainable Tourism Solutions Expo (STSE) on 14-15 September, attracted more than 100 hospitality trade decision-makers from around the Mekong Region to the Luang Prabang View Hotel, where they met some 30 Lao and international sustainable product and service providers, and participated in related symposia. Tom Grimm led off the “Saving Money through Sustainability” forum … Read more

  More than 1,000 Luang Prabang residents turned out ahead of World Cleanup Day to rid the UNESCO World Heritage City of trash. The coordinated crews hit the streets at 07:00 on Friday, 14 September, and after 90 minutes, the city was spotless, with government trucks picking up heaps of garbage at collection points. Trash … Read more

Citizens of the Republic of Korea visiting Laos can now stay in the country for up to 30 days without a visa, following a new visa exemption scheme which comes into effect on 3 September 2018. The Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the announcement on Thursday, extending the current visa exemption for another 15 … Read more

The Tiger Trail staff in Luang Prabang recently spent time clearing the tracks to prepare for the upcoming high season, and topping the list is the one-day, 17-km “Trekking the Longhut Trail”. This tour (FT-1BM) is for fit travelers looking for a challenging trek, featuring great scenery and visits to remote Hmong and Khmu hill … Read more

Pandaw’s newest river cruise ship has successfully completed river trials ahead of her inaugural voyage from Laos to China this November. Sabaidee Pandaw, which is the 17th in the line’s fleet and the third Laos-based vessel, was built by a team from Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. During her river trials, the vessel sailed upstream against … Read more

The Sanctuary Pakbeng Lodge is focusing on the “Destination Pakbeng” campaign in September, while naming a new manager for their Mekong Elephant Park. From 18-20, the Sanctuary Team will be welcoming We Are Lao’s editor, to share all the highlights of Destination Pakbeng. Local tourism stake holders aim to transform the Mekong port from an … Read more

The emerging field of ethnopharmocology is pinpointing exciting new possibilities in Laos to fight the deadliest cancers. Djaja D. Soejarto has been trekking through the rain forests of Laos and Vietnam for over two decades in search of cytotoxic molecules—the anticancer drugs of the future. It’s a quest—a biological prospecting—that depends on carefully-crafted partnerships with … Read more

  Laos and China signed a feasibility-study agreement to establish a college for training personnel to work as ticket sellers, station operators and provide various passenger services for the upcoming Laos-China railway. Graduates would have the opportunity to work on the railway, which is set for completion in 2021. According to the Ministry of Education … Read more

  Grade 11 students at Vientiane Pattana School taking the Cambridge AS and A Level “Travel and Tourism” course will find an interesting surprise on page 131 of their text book, where Case Study 11 stars: “Southern Laos launches tourism destination brand”, a three-year-old press release. This should please Lao tourism stakeholders on two fronts: … Read more