Laos will reopen its borders to international visitors on January 1

Laos has announced plans to reopen its borders to foreign visitors partially in the new year.

For more than 18 months, the South-East Asian country has been closed to international visitors in an effort to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Visitors who are fully vaccinated and on pre-booked tours will be able to enter Laos on January 1 and visit a limited number of destinations, including the capital Vientiane, eco-tourism hotspot Vang Vieng, and Luang Prabang, a Unesco World Heritage site in the country’s north.

Luang Prabang, built on a peninsula formed by the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers and surrounded by lush greenery, combines traditional architecture and Lao urban structures with those constructed by European colonial authorities in the 19th and 20th centuries.

As vaccination rates in Laos rise, more destinations will open in April and July. For the time being, entry will be restricted to tourists from 17 countries, the majority of which are in Southeast Asia and Europe, as well as the United States, Australia, and Canada. Before embarking on their journey, all arrivals will be required to test negative for Covid-19.

The recent opening of a railway connecting Vientiane to the south-western Chinese city of Kunming is expected to boost vaccination rates in the country. Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith hailed the $6 billion rail link as a “new era of modern infrastructure development,” and health officials are already working to deliver Covid booster shots to people living in tourist areas along the train line.

Prior to the pandemic, Laos received approximately 4.7 million international visitors per year. A sharp drop in arrivals in 2020 has had a significant impact on the economy, which experienced a 0.4% decline last year, according to the World Bank.

Source: https://bit.ly/3FhV9mf