Dien Bien (VNA) – Representatives of 20 provincesalong the shared border between Vietnam and Laos gathered in a conferencepromoting cooperation for tourism development in the two countries’ borderregion in Dien Bien Phu City, the capital of the northern mountainous provinceof Dien Bien, on October 2.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism(VNAT), the shared borderline of more than 2,300km with eightinternational border gates and nine border-gate economic zones between the two countries is of great development potential and holds a strategic position on the East - West economic corridor.

VNAT Deputy Director-General Ha Van Sieu said bilateral tourismcooperation has seen progress in recent years given the good long-standing friendship,special solidarity and comprehensive partnership between the two countries.Many tourism promotion and cooperation activities have been jointly organised,attracting authorities, industry associations and tourism enterprises from bothsides, he noted.

Vietnamese tourist arrivals in Laos reached nearly 924,900in 2019 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic while Vietnam welcomed morethan 98,000 visitor arrivals from Laos.

As Vietnam and Laos removed COVID-19-triggered border closureearlier this year, travel between the two countries has begun recovering, with some46,500 Lao arrivals in Vietnam and 49,200 Vietnamese visiting Laos in the firsthalf of this year.

During the event, tourism administrators and border localitiesput forward various recommendations to boost tourism linkages and cooperationalong the shared borderline.

Among the recommendations, one suggested the two countries adopt incentives attractive enough to lure investment in developing transportinfrastructure connecting border-gate economic zones and tourist destinationswhile another proposed adding tourism cooperation into the 2015 Vietnam –Laos bilateral trade agreement./.