How Tourism in Laos, Cambodia is Galloping Ahead of Vietnam

[geovalin]

How Tourism in Laos, Cambodia is Galloping Ahead of Vietnam

Nguyen Van My

HO CHI MINH CITY – A decade ago, few people thought that tourism development in Laos and Cambodia would outpace Vietnam’s.

Many tourism officials in the two countries used to be trained in Vietnam.

Laos has no coastline and focuses mostly on culture and ecological tourism with two UNESCO heritage sites, Wat Phou Temple and Luang Prabang town.

Cambodia has a coastline that is just an eighth of Vietnam’s in length. It has attracted tourists mostly to two UNESCO heritage sites, Angkor Wat and Preah Vihear temples.

Vietnam tourism has more attractions, including a long coastline with beautiful beaches and eight UNESCO heritage sites.

read more: http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13631/how-tourism-in-laos--cambodia-is-galloping-ahead-of-vietnam/

[Sydebolle]

Well, one reason is definitely the visa issue. While in Laos and Cambodia visa is available on arrival the bureaucratic process plus a +/- USD 100 to obtain a visa has put me off more than once. I can decide to fly off to Luang Prabang or Siem Reap this afternoon (and I sometimes to such things) - in Vietnam this is not possible.

[Deli]

At a recent National Assembly session Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam mentioned six fears foreign tourists have in Vietnam – like overpricing and rip-offs, unsafe traffic, beggars and petty thefts, bad food safety, dirty public restrooms and littering.

Isn't this Thailand as it's best ?

[Deli]

Well, one reason is definitely the visa issue. While in Laos and Cambodia visa is available on arrival the bureaucratic process plus a +/- USD 100 to obtain a visa has put me off more than once. I can decide to fly off to Luang Prabang or Siem Reap this afternoon (and I sometimes to such things) - in Vietnam this is not possible.

Wrong, now for many Citizenships, there's Visa on arrival.

[Tomtomtom69]

Well, one reason is definitely the visa issue. While in Laos and Cambodia visa is available on arrival the bureaucratic process plus a +/- USD 100 to obtain a visa has put me off more than once. I can decide to fly off to Luang Prabang or Siem Reap this afternoon (and I sometimes to such things) - in Vietnam this is not possible.

Wrong, now for many Citizenships, there's Visa on arrival.

Correct, but it needs to go further allowing longer stays for visa exempt nationalities and more nationalities included. Since July 1, 5 western nationalities are visa free for 15 days. Also, a further correction is that it IS possible to fly to Vietnam at short notice even if you need a visa. You simply pay extra for the pre-approved visa on arrival fee. You will probably want to have at least 4 hours but yes, that's all that's needed. In general, you need to book flights 6 hours or more in advance anyway, so I don't think if you wanted to go to Luang Prabang or Siem Reap (the latter probably doesn't even have any afternoon flights from Bangkok, Vientiane would have been a better example) you would only try booking your flight now, maybe for tomorrow morning it would be OK though.

More nationalities are eligible for pre-approved visas on arrival to Vietnam than Thailand currently offers. For example, while it's more expensive for them compared to other nationalities, Sri Lankans can avail themselves of a pre-approved visa on arrival for Vietnam, whereas only a visa in advance will get them into Thailand.

[Tomtomtom69]

A further advantage of Laos and Cambodia compared to Vietnam is that tourists can generally drive in their own vehicles for tourism purposes, hence it's very common to see strange foreign number plates in these countries (particularly in Laos) compared to Vietnam, where this is rare due to the strict regulations they have on driving cars and motorcycles in their country. The new regulations, which require advance permission through a travel agency and an escort, in the form of a motorcycle or car travelling in front of your vehicle throughout your journey in Vietnam, not to mention the need to submit a pre-approved itinerary when most other tourists to the country are free to travel where they please without any advance planning is further off putting not to mention expensive.

More nature, fewer people and less chance of rip-offs further encourages tourists to Cambodia and Laos rather than Vietnam.

Having said that, Vietnam has more air links to other countries and still attracts more than twice the number of visitors than either country does, just that it's growth rates may have slowed to much lower levels than these two countries.

[Halion]

Well, one reason is definitely the visa issue. While in Laos and Cambodia visa is available on arrival the bureaucratic process plus a +/- USD 100 to obtain a visa has put me off more than once. I can decide to fly off to Luang Prabang or Siem Reap this afternoon (and I sometimes to such things) - in Vietnam this is not possible.

Also the hoards of Thai's that flock to go gambling.

Real tourism is significantly better established in Vietnam.

[Roota]

I wouldn't take this story at face value. International arrivals in Vietnam in 2014 were 7.8 million vs. 4.5 million for Cambodia and 4.1 million for Laos. They're not slowing either in VN as the author claims, though last year growth was only about 4%. The future for tourism in all three countries is all about China, which already provides by far the largest number of arrivals.

As for "overpricing and rip-offs, unsafe traffic, beggars and petty thefts, bad food safety, dirty public restrooms and littering", I'd have to say that Vietnam has improved considerably over the past decade or so, but still generally has more problems in all these areas than Thailand (since somebody brought it up). Laos is actually pretty good in most of those aspects, and Cambodia isn't far behind.

[thailandforumaddict]

But Vietnam is full of Vietnamese as France is full of French...

But nice countries, really <3

[12DrinkMore]

At a recent National Assembly session Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam mentioned six fears foreign tourists have in Vietnam like overpricing and rip-offs, unsafe traffic, beggars and petty thefts, bad food safety, dirty public restrooms and littering.

Isn't this Thailand as it's best ?

Actually no.

The overpricing and ripoffs are well known and can be avoided.

Food in Thailand is generally very fresh and clean.

Public toilets are nowadays pretty clean.

Littering, yes, the Thais are world leaders in dumping trash everwhere.

[SupermarineS6B]

My recent visit to Siem Reap after being there a long time ago, has shown me that the only place that's lagging behing in SE Asia is Thailand........ Siem Reap has a better night life than Bkk....... Fun and cheap, just like Thailand USED to be.........

[Kannikapor88]

At a recent National Assembly session Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam mentioned six fears foreign tourists have in Vietnam – like overpricing and rip-offs, unsafe traffic, beggars and petty thefts, bad food safety, dirty public restrooms and littering.

Isn't this Thailand as it's best ?

not to mention getting murdered in Thailand with Police that dont care about finding your murderer ... just "solving" the murder by pointing at some migrant workers or solved as suicide ...

[Lupatria]

At a recent National Assembly session Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam mentioned six fears foreign tourists have in Vietnam – like overpricing and rip-offs, unsafe traffic, beggars and petty thefts, bad food safety, dirty public restrooms and littering.

Isn't this Thailand as it's best ?

...as long as they don't have Selma & Louise style Katoey's

[losworld]

One must keep in mind that most visitor stats often include crossings from adjacent countries even if for a day. Another thing is that Vietnam and China are experiencing tepid relations and Vietnam is not getting near the Chinese visitors as Laos and Cambodia. Apparently China is going to resettle one million Chinese in northern Laos.

[lostoday]

My recent visit to Siem Reap after being there a long time ago, has shown me that the only place that's lagging behing in SE Asia is Thailand........ Siem Reap has a better night life than Bkk....... Fun and cheap, just like Thailand USED to be.........

Good going turning a thread about Vietnam in the Cambodian forum into an anti Thai bash. Good on ya.