With the opening of Lao PDR to tourism, it is now a lot easier to get a tourist visa, the number of hotels and guesthouses has hugely increased and ecotourism is becoming more and more popular amongst westerners.

But, Laos is disadvantaged by its landlocked position and, being isolated for many years, is still unfamiliar to a lot of Westerners. In order to attract more tourists to its country, Lao PDR has to create and develop an e-tourism strategy.

With the support of the Lao National Tourism Administration, a joint E-tourism/TrainforTrade workshop will be conducted in Vientiane from 13 to 15 November 2007.

The workshop will address the following questions:

• What is the current situation of tourism in Laos?
  
  
• What use is made of information and communications technologies (ICT) to promote and develop tourism in Laos?
  
  
• What is the tourism strategy of Laos?
  
  
• What problems are encountered by the tourism sector and how can this situation be improved?

The objectives of the workshop is to provide participants with relevant instruments for assessing the opportunities and impact of ICTs in the tourism sector, and to highlight the different responsibilities of parties involved in the definition of a national e-tourism strategy for development.

A national case study was carried out in September and October 2007. This will be presented and discussed along with other recent case studies (Cambodia, Vietnam and Quebec (Canada). The conclusions drawn from these case studies will serve as an essential input for the workshop.