Current Situation Of The Development And Strategic Planning Of Laos Tourist Industry

The development of tourist industry has enormously facilitated national economy and relevant industries. According to their own national conditions, the governments of various countries have made the corresponding tourism development strategies. Since the middle period of the 1980s, Laos government began to implement the economic system of reform and opening to the outside world, and simultaneously, based on tourism, they commenced to pursue the development strategies which impel relevant industries'development in a more cost-effective manner. At present, tourist industry, as one rising industry, has become a new point of growth in national economy of Laos, and grows to be the strategic emphasis of economic development of every Lao area day by day. 1.Summary of the travel development strategy Through more than ten years development, Laos tourist industry has played an important role in obtaining gratifying achievements in Laos national economy. However, there are still some problems that need to be solved, such as the undistinguishable overall image of Laos tourist industry, the unreasonable industrial structure, the under-capitalizing infrastructure, the deficiency of capacity of scenic spot and the behindhand marketing means. Based on these problems and the practical analysis of Laos development strategies, this paper gives a preliminary discussion on the development strategies of Laos tourist industry. Tourist industry is composed of tourist traffic, tourist hotels, travel agencies etc., which are the important provider and organizer of travel exchange relation. Tourist industry has also offered advantageous conditions for the development of tourist activities. According to the target system that caused changes in the history of tourist industry, in the current situation and in the key elements of the market, the arrangements of the key travelling elements in pursuit of realizing the target system in specific conditions, are known as the travel development strategy. At present, the basic development strategies patterns adopted by the developing countries include the leading development strategy, the advance strategy as well as the non-balanced jumping-like strategy. In the process of developing tourism, all the countries of the world should seek the proper way with the different strategies according to their own national conditions. 2. Strategic analysis of Laos tourist industry Laos tourist industry plays a significant role in promoting the advancement of national economy and increasing the national income. Compared with other economic departments requiring high technology with a large amount of fund, tourist industry has obvious advantages. The development of tourist industry can not only increase the foreign exchange revenue, offer employment opportunities, drive relevant industries, but can also promote the scale of investment to Laos from abroad while bringing about an advance in regional economy. In accordance with the current situation of Laos tourist industry development and the SWOT analysis carried on it, we get to know that even if Laos tourist industry is at her starting stage, her comparative advantage is obvious, it can be especially seen in resource and geographical advantages, in the lower level of consumption etc. From the current situation, there are some problems existing in Laos tourist development. For example, the overall image is indistinct, the industry structure isunreasonable, there is a low level of consumption, the infrastructure construction is under-capitalized, there is a deficiency of capacity of scenic spot, and behindhand marketing means. If the Laos government can seize the realistic and potential opportunities of tourist industry, analyse and treat earnestly the threat it confronts, then she must fully develop its talents in this field. 3.Strategic planning of Laos tourist industry Tourist industry has already been classified as one of the pillar industries of national economy by the Laos government which aims at developing the Laos tourism to construct Laos to be an international tour destination and a powerful country in the tourism of Southeast Asia. Thus, the Laos government can take the following measures: choosing the development strategy mode connecting leading development strategy with advance development strategy and choosing the different space strategic development model according to the different developing stages; carrying on the localization and planning again to the travel image of Laos, and expanding the popularization of the travel image; in addition, as regards the products, innovating in the cultural characteristics, the travel function and the image of the products. planning the marketing strategies combined with subdividing goal market, travelling market orientation, and choosing market points of promotion. Fields on which the Laos tourist industry strategy puts emphasis includes sightseeing, holiday, congress, ecology tours and excursions. The developing structure is made up of several items of three levels. The first level are sightseeing tours, religious and cultural tours of a large rate of flow; the second level are holiday tours and congress tours of medium rate of flow; the third level are special tours of a small rate of flow includingeco-tours, excursions etc. From the point of view of economic benefits, the rate of flow is inversely proportional to consuming. In the first level, both are consumed to a relatively low extent; the tourism consumption with religious and cultural destinations is in general higher than that of sightseeing tours; the second level of the tourism consumption is higher than the first level; the consumption of the third level should be higher than the second one. Development programmes in different periods of time: in the near future, developing the sightseeing tours and religiously cultural tours as well as relevant products; in the middle period, developing congress tours and leisure-time tours along with relevant products; in a long-term period, developing eco-tours and excursions as well as correlated products. 4.Strategy implementation of Laos tourist industry At the same time, it is necessary to make efforts in developing traffic for Laos tourism. And in a more cost-effective manner, Laos should bring into play its unique position advantages, relying on the main road to strengthen the travel network, and make better use of the comprehensive functions of the systematic network. Apart from the points mentioned above, let us put forward the following measures to the questions that exist in the industry: 1. strengthening government's macroscopical guidance function in the development of the tourist and hotel industry. 2. accelerating the mergence and reorganization between the Laos tourist hotels and foreign hotel groups, and accelerating the cultivation and growth of large-scale groups of tourist hotels in order to strengthen the ability to contend and compete with the international corporation of tourist hotels. 3. setting up new-type enterprise operation modes of meeting the needs of...