The biggest growth factor is the revival of the tourism industry, which accounts for about 10% of gross domestic product. Foreign tourists in the January to April 2023 period reached 1.11 million, surpassing the number from January to June the previous year, according to the government.
The ADB expects 2.6 million visitors for the full year, doubling from 2022. Although the figure pales in comparison to the 4.8 million visitors recorded in 2019, the tourism industry’s contribution to the economy is significant.
In April, passenger service began on the 1,000-kilometer cross-border railroad linking Kunming, in China’s Yunnan province, with the Laotian capital of Vientiane. About 60% of the $6 billion construction cost was covered with interest-bearing debt from the Export-Import Bank of China.
Trains run once a day in each direction between the two countries, stopping in the ancient capital of Luang Prabang, a United Nations World Heritage Site, and the town of Boten on the Chinese border.