Laos tourism expanded from 14,400 international arrivals in 1990 to 4,791,065 in 2019, according to the Statistical Reports on Tourism in Laos. The same long-run series records a sharp fall to 886,447 arrivals in 2020. Alongside international travel, Laos’s 2020 and 2021 reports describe domestic tourism, visitor origins, tourism revenue, and the country’s attraction and homestay supply.
Contents
- Long-run international arrivals
- Tourism revenue over time
- The 2020 visitor mix
- Domestic tourism in 2020 and 2021
- Domestic visitor characteristics
- Attractions and accommodation supply
- Report projections for 2022–2025
Long-run international arrivals
The 2020 Statistical Report on Tourism in Laos gives a 1990 starting point of 14,400 international tourist arrivals. Arrivals rose to 37,613 in 1991 and 87,571 in 1992. The 2021 Statistical Report on Tourism in Laos records 102,946 arrivals in 1993, followed by 146,155 in 1994 and 346,460 in 1995.
The expansion continued through the late 1990s. Laos recorded 403,000 arrivals in 1996, 463,200 in 1997, 500,200 in 1998, and 614,278 in 1999. The series reached 737,208 arrivals in 2000. It then moved unevenly: 673,823 in 2001, 735,662 in 2002, and 636,361 in 2003. The 2004 total was 894,806.
Arrivals passed one million in 2005, when the report recorded 1,095,315 tourists. The figures for 2006 and 2007 were 1,215,106 and 1,623,943, respectively. Laos recorded 1,736,787 arrivals in 2008, 2,008,363 in 2009, and 2,513,028 in 2010.
From 2011 to 2015, the reported totals were:
| Year | Tourist arrivals |
|---|---|
| 2011 | 2,723,564 |
| 2012 | 3,330,072 |
| 2013 | 3,779,490 |
| 2014 | 4,158,719 |
| 2015 | 4,684,429 |
Source: 2021 Statistical Report on Tourism in Laos.
The 2015 figure is the peak in the supplied historical series before 2020. Arrivals declined to 4,239,047 in 2016 and 3,868,838 in 2017, then recovered to 4,186,432 in 2018. The series reached a later high of 4,791,065 in 2019. The 2020 Statistical Report records 886,447 arrivals in 2020, making that year a distinct break from the preceding high-volume period.
Tourism revenue over time
Tourism revenue rose alongside the long-run arrival series, although the relationship was not identical in every year. The 2020 Statistical Report on Tourism in Laos records $2.25 million in revenue in 1991 and $4.51 million in 1992. The 2021 report records $6.28 million in 1993, $7.5576 million in 1994, and $24.73848 million in 1995.
Revenue reached $43.592263 million in 1996, $73.276904 million in 1997, $79.960145 million in 1998, and $97.265324 million in 1999. In 2000, the reported total was $113.898285 million. The next three years were $103.786323 million in 2001, $113.409883 million in 2002, and $87.302412 million in 2003. Revenue then increased to $118.947707 million in 2004 and $146.770074 million in 2005.
The report’s mid-2000s figures were $173.249896 million in 2006, $233.304695 million in 2007, and $275.515758 million in 2008. Revenue was $267.700224 million in 2009 and $381.669031 million in 2010. From 2011 through 2015, the reported totals were $406.184338 million, $506.022586 million, $595.909127 million, $641.636543 million, and $725.365681 million, respectively.
The 2016 revenue figure was $724.191957 million, followed by $648.067008 million in 2017. Revenue rose to $811.010661 million in 2018 and $934.710409 million in 2019. For 2020, the 2020 Statistical Report reports total tourism revenue of $213,367,141. This is a reported total in current dollars as presented by the source; the figures here are not adjusted for inflation.
The 2020 visitor mix
The 2020 Statistical Report separates the 886,447 total tourist arrivals into 205,269 international tourists and 681,178 regional tourists. Within the regional total, the report lists 74,823 day trippers and 632,297 overnight stays under the combined border-pass and passport categories.
The largest named visitor markets were Thailand, Vietnam, and China. Thailand accounted for 350,103 arrivals, including 209,315 passport arrivals and 140,788 border-pass arrivals. Vietnam accounted for 186,180 arrivals, including 164,314 passport arrivals and 21,866 day-tripper arrivals. China accounted for 138,466 arrivals, including 107,605 passport arrivals and 30,861 day-tripper arrivals.
The report also records 5,012 arrivals from Cambodia, made up of 4,289 passport arrivals and 723 border-pass arrivals. Myanmar accounted for 1,417 arrivals, all listed as border-pass arrivals. These categories describe how the 2020 report tabulated the visits; they should not be treated as a single standardized definition of international leisure travel.
Revenue was also split between international and regional tourists. International tourists generated $136,147,784 in 2020, while regional tourists generated $77,219,357. By named market, Thai passport visitors generated $32,653,140 and Thai border-pass visitors generated $2,815,760. Vietnam passport visitors generated $14,788,260, and China passport visitors generated $25,825,200. All of these revenue values come from the 2020 Statistical Report on Tourism in Laos.
Domestic tourism in 2020 and 2021
The 2021 Statistical Report on Tourism in Laos presents a separate domestic tourism survey. It counted 1,581,100 domestic tourist arrivals in 2020 and 828,592 in 2021. Because this is a domestic survey series, these figures should be read separately from the international and regional arrival totals in the 2020 report.
Travel mode changed between the two survey years. Domestic travel by airplane was recorded at 349,423 trips in 2020 and 77,059 in 2021. Travel by private car was 1,060,918 in 2020 and 745,733 in 2021. The same report counted 1,339,192 holiday trips in 2020 and 724,189 in 2021.
Not every purpose declined in the survey. Business trips fell from 105,934 in 2020 to 63,802 in 2021. Visits to family moved from 94,866 to 160,747. The report estimated domestic tourism revenue at 1,102,275,937,600 LAK in 2021. This is a source-reported estimate in Lao kip, not a dollar conversion.
Domestic visitor characteristics
The domestic tourism characteristics survey in the 2021 Statistical Report provides percentages for selected visitor groups. Male visitors represented 57.2% of the 2021 domestic sample, compared with 43.7% in 2020. The largest reported age cohort in 2021 was visitors aged 30–39, at 37.2%, up from 28.0% in 2020.
Students represented 33.5% of domestic tourists in 2021, compared with 10.4% in 2020. Government officials represented 15.8% in 2021, compared with 26.6% in 2020. These are survey shares, so they describe the report’s domestic tourism sample rather than the entire population of Laos.
Leisure was the dominant reported purpose in 2021, representing 87.4% of domestic tourist purposes. The survey also reported that 23.6% of domestic tourists had monthly income above 6,000,000 LAK. Together, these figures give context for the domestic market: the report measured a large leisure component while also recording substantial changes in the composition of surveyed visitors.
Attractions and accommodation supply
The 2021 Statistical Report counted 2,199 tourist attractions and sites nationwide. Of these, 1,314 were natural sites, 591 were cultural and historical sites, and 294 were listed as under development. The report also showed 1,040 registered attractions and 587 operated attractions. These classifications are not interchangeable: a site can be counted in the nationwide inventory without being listed as operated.
Several provinces and administrative areas had large attraction inventories. Luang Prabang had 224 tourist attractions in 2021, Champasak had 217, Khammouane had 207, and Vientiane Province had 200. Vientiane Capital had 84. The figures identify the number of attractions reported for each area, not the number of visitor trips to them.
Homestay figures require the same care because the report uses different units. The 2021 report counted 335 homestays nationwide and 1,115 homestay beds. Luang Prabang province had 81 homestay units, Khammouane had 75 homestay rooms, and Vientiane Capital had 327 homestay units. Since the source describes some values as units, one as rooms, and another as beds, they should not be added together as if they measured the same thing.
Report projections for 2022–2025
The 2021 Statistical Report lists 900,000 arrivals and $218.05044 million in tourism revenue for 2022. It projects 1,403,474 arrivals and $340.031247 million in revenue for 2023, 2,367,280 arrivals and $573.540494 million for 2024, and 3,214,381 arrivals and $778.774655 million for 2025.
These 2022–2025 figures are report-listed values and projections from the 2021 report, not later independently verified observations. They should therefore be distinguished from the historical totals through 2020. The domestic series also includes projections: domestic tourism arrivals were projected at 1,339,277 in 2024 and 1,494,882 in 2025. Domestic tourism revenue was projected at 1,419,633,620,000 LAK in 2024.
Taken together, the reports provide several distinct lenses on Laos tourism: a long-run international arrival series, dollar-denominated tourism revenue, a 2020 breakdown of international and regional visitors, a domestic survey for 2020 and 2021, a 2021 inventory of attractions and homestay capacity, and forward-looking values published in the 2021 report. Keeping those definitions and measurement periods separate is essential when interpreting the country’s tourism statistics.