The Malaysian Food and Cultural Festival is taking place from 17-20 September at the National Culture Hall in Laos. The festival aims to provide a platform for travel trade players to meet and share experiences, as well as allow Malaysia’s tourism players to network with their Lao counterparts. Around 20 booths from Laos and Malaysia were displaying their products at the festival. The event comes as part of the celebrations of the 58th anniversary of Malaysia National Day and 52nd Malaysia Day. Last year, the number of Lao nationals who visited Malaysia was over 26,000, a decrease of 25.4% when compared to the previous year. The Kuala Lumpur-Luang Prabang route is set to begin early next year, and it is hoped this will result in an increase in Lao visitors to Malaysia.