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  Luang Prabang is attracting increasing numbers of Chinese tourists, and this surge in popularity is creating communication challenges for hotel and restaurant owners when large groups arrive. The ongoing Visit Laos-China Year campaign is expected to deliver higher numbers to Luang Prabang and other northern provinces. The city is currently riding a wave of … Read more

  The UN’s special rapporteur for extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, visited Laos in March and got an earful. “A number of people complained to me that many of the events organised by the UN in Vientiane were very carefully orchestrated…are not designed to give a platform for diverse voices,” he said. “Rather … Read more

  “The soft release of elephants into the wild is a scientific experiment, and the first in Laos. I can’t wait to see what happens,” said Sebastien “Seb”  Duffillot, co-founder of the Elephant Conservation Centre (ECC) “It took a year to get to this point.” That day happened on 5 March, when the ECC team … Read more

  Season 31 of ‘Amazing Race’ kicked off on 17 April, and the next stop is Laos, with close to 8 million US viewers expected to be glued to their TVs to see who gets bounced in the Land of a Million Elephants. Amazing Race Contestants Though filmed last year, the Emmy award-winning Amazing Race … Read more

  Horwath HTL – the global leader in hotel, tourism and leisure consulting – released “Luxury & Upper Upscale Hotel Market Overview Luang Prabang” in April 2019, which spotlights upcoming supply, delves into annual occupancy rates and ADR, and provides a peek into the future. Pullman Luang Prabang According to the Horwath report, only seven … Read more

  Oudomxay is marching ahead to place the province on tourists’ radar. Deputy Director of the province’s Information, Culture and Tourism Department, Mr Bounkuan Mitmeuangxay, told Vientiane Times on Monday that the authorities are planning improvements at the Nam Kat Yorla Pa Resort, Vat Pha Chao Sing Kham and Vat Phou That Lattanamingmeuang temples. They … Read more

  Lao Airlines has scaled back its direct service on the Vientiane – Shanghai route, from four to one day a week, but aims to increase the operation to three weekly flights on 19 May. As reported by We Are Lao, Lao Airlines launched a weekly nonstop service on 29 January 2019 on board Airbus … Read more

  2018 BikingMan Champion Rodney Soncco won this year’s opening round in Oman, dominating a field of more than 60 ultracyclers. He covered the1,050-km circuit in 38h20m,more than two hours ahead of runner up, Jason Black. Both have entered BikingMan Laos on 20-24 May. Jasmijn Muller (Photo courtesy of Total Women’s Cycling) However, the real … Read more

  Published by NPR Read the transcript of writer Ashley Westerman, on US radio station, Morning Edition, where she discusses what she learned at the Elephant Conservation Centre about the impact the Lao-China train will have on the country’s declining elephant population. Read the entire transcript.  

  Max Mara Fashion Group, a multi-billion dollar Italian couture fashion house plagiarised traditional designs of the Oma ethnic minority group in their Spring/Summer 2019 collection. The patterns appeared in dresses, skirts and blouses presented in the collection’s “Max Mara Weekend” resort line. The Oma, a small ethnic community living in the hills of Phongsaly … Read more