VIENTIANE, May 27 (Xinhua) -- The majority of foreign visitors to Laos said they were coming to the country for a holiday, a new survey has revealed.
The survey was carried out by the Tourism Development Department of the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism. The obtained results came from the information gathered from 2,918 overseas visitors entering Laos from April to December 2018, the local daily Vientiane Times reported on Monday.
The survey was conducted at Wattay International Airport in Lao capital Vientiane and the Lao-Thai Friendship Bridges, the major foreign entries in Vientiane, northern Laos' Luang Prabang and in southern Laos' Champassak Province.
The results reveal that 81 percent of foreign visitors in Laos are for holiday, about 7.4 percent of visitors said they had come to Laos for business, while 3.3 percent said they were visiting family, etc.
Some 11.7 percent of visitors said they were retired, 10.1 percent were self-employed, 9.6 percent were government employees, and 2.8 percent categorized themselves as housewives.
The survey also revealed that 35.9 percent of visitors were in the 20-29 age group, while 24.2 percent were aged 30-39, and 14.6 percent were aged 60 and above.
Laos is conducting a major campaign to attract visitors and many facilities have been improved to provide expected standards of service. To reach the government's target of 4.5 million visitors during Visit Laos-China Year 2019, Lao provinces across the country are adding to their tourist attractions, improving signage, and making adjustments to the price of accommodation following complaints about high costs.
Laos has 670 hotels, 2,432 guesthouses and resorts, 2,646 restaurants and 305 entertainment venues, according to the Tourism Development Department of Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.
There are numerous officially designated tourist attractions including 1,318 nature-based sites, 596 places of cultural interest, and 294 places of historical significance in Laos.
More than 1 million people vacationed in Laos in the first three months of this year, a dip of about 0.5 percent over the same period last year.
