Readers
of Wanderlust, a leading British travel magazine, have voted Luang Prabang as
the best city in the world to visit for the last three years in a row,
according to Lao tourism officials.
The World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang beat
out more than 1,000 cities worldwide to top the magazine’s annual list of best
tourist destinations for 2012.
Located in the north of Laos with a population
of about 100,000, the town has made the magazine’s list of top travel
destinations since 2006.
Luang Prabang senior tourism expert Mr Khamtan
Somphanvilay told Vientiane Times yesterday that Wanderlust readers had ranked
the city as “best tourist destination” for three consecutive years from
2006-2008.
In 2009 it fell to one of the top 10 in the
same category before again topping the list from 2010 to 2012.
“ Wanderlust is in the process of sending us
the award for 2012,” Mr Khamtan said, saying that the charm of Luang Prabang is
its mix of natural and cultural splendours.
The town is a cultural centre in the region,
with its numerous temples bearing testimony to its former glory.
Its landmark attractions are its centuries-old
Buddhist temples and monasteries, Kuang Xi waterfall, Phousy hill and Buddha
cave, all of which are easily accessible.
Wanderlust says “Your perennial fave gets the
gong again. We love the fact that your top city isn’t about bright lights and
fast living.
“No, laid-back Lao city Luang Prabang likes to
take things slow. Really slow. You can’t get enough of its serene temples and
jungle ecolodges.”
The magazine’s readers also voted Bamboo
Travel as the winner of Best Tour Operator in 2011, and runner up in 2012. This
travel company runs tours for visitors from the UK and other European countries
to Luang Prabang province.
Luang Prabang is the former capital of the
Lane Xang Kingdom, or the Land of a Million Elephants.
UNESCO declared the town a World Heritage Site
in 1995 and since then tourist arrivals have risen each year.
In 2010-11, tourist arrivals in the province
reached 274,000 people, 20,000 more than the previous year, according to the
Luang Prabang provincial Department of Information, Culture and Tourism.
The tourism department is optimistic that the
trend will continue this year.
Officials attribute the current surge in
visitor numbers to the ‘Visit Laos Year 2012′ campaign and the opening of
direct flights between Laos and Singapore and the Republic of Korea .
About 700 tourists from Kor ea have visited
Luang Prabang every week since the start of this year. Prior to this, there
were only about 40 tourists from the country each week, according to the
provincial tou rism department.
Tourist arrivals from Europe have also seen an
increase despite the economic crisis on that continent. Europe represents 43
percent of all tourist arrivals in the province.
The largest number of European tourists come
from the UK, with about 30,000 to 40,000 visitors per year.
Somsack Pongkhao
Vientiane Times
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