Overtourism might occur as high-speed China-Laos Railway will boost visitor numbers dramatically

More than 800,000 Chinese arrivals into Laos were registered in 2018, and for this year for the first time, more than one million Mainland Chinese might cross the border. To attract more Chinese tourists, the Lao government recently also reduced the tourist visa fee for Chinese nationals.

The key project of the China-Laos Economic Corridor, the China-Laos railway, is part of a major Belt and Road Initiative. The railway is expected to be fully operational in 2021 since nearly 80 percent of the construction has been completed. It is supposed to become part of a connection between Kunming in Yunnan/China and Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

However, there are some concerns that the new Chinese-invested shops and restaurants, as well as low-end market visitors from Mainland China using the new train link, could flood Laos. So how should the Lao government deal with the challenge of overtourism?

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Photo by Simon Matzinger on Unsplash