In 2003, the country welcomed 588,500 foreign tourists despite the SARS outbreak. It is expected that the number will reach 676,800 this year and revenue from tourism activities will amount to 104 million USD.

With a natural area of 236,800 sq. km and a population of 5.2 million, the country in the centre of Indochinese Peninsula has a forest coverage rate of 47 percent, the highest in Asia and the world.

Years ago, due to the undeveloped infrastructure, most tourists chose to visit the capital Vientiane by air and some to the former capital Luangprabang and the famous Plain of Jars.

Identifying infrastructure development as a breakthrough to national development in general and tourism in particular, the Lao Government has attached much importance to upgrading and building major routes. Roads on the National Highway No. 13 were upgraded and opened to traffic. Meanwhile, the upgrading of the national highways No. 8, 9, 10 and 8A are underway.

Together with a project to build the second bridge spanning the Mekong River and linking Savanakhet province of Laos to Thailand and a project to build a trans-Southeast Asian railway that links the Noongkhai province of Thailand to the Lao capital of Vientiane via the Laos - Thailand Friendship Bridge, Laos has opened a number of border gates between Laos and the neighbouring countries of Viet Nam, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar as well as the Chinese province of Yunnan.

At the ASEAN Tourism Ministers' Conference held early this year, Laos was considered a major partner in developing trans-Indochina tours from Thailand to Viet Nam via Laos. It also signed the Greater Mekong Sub-region tourism cooperation agreement with the other signatories of Viet Nam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and China.

Among its most attractive tourist destinations are its two World Cultural Heritages, the former imperial city of Luangprabang and a stone temple in Champassak province, and the Chum field.-Enditem