BANGKOK, 1 April 2025: Luang Prabang in northern Laos will host the annual Mekong Tourism Forum from 23 to 27 June 2025 side-by-side with the 55th Meeting of the GMS Tourism Working Group attended by government representatives from the six Mekong Region countries.
Lijiang City in Yunang Province, China, hosted the 2024 Mekong Tourism Forum last April when an announcement confirmed that Laos would host the Mekong Tourism Forum 2025 in Luang Prabang.
When asked for more information, Mekong Tourism Coordination Office executive director Dee Suvimol Thanasarakij said details would be posted on the MTCO website next week when “we will start promoting the event.”
The office has around 12 weeks to plot the profile and muster a more substantial turnout of travel executives from the six member countries than was evident in Lijiang in China. First established in the late 1990s, the event’s popularity peaked at around 300 delegates. Due to Southeast Asia’s crowded travel show calendar, attendance has dropped dramatically in recent years.
However, Suvimol noted that MTF 2025 would be the platform to launch the “new GMS Tourism Strategy, which serves as a roadmap for GMS tourism until 2030… MTCO’s work priorities follow the recommendations outlined in the strategy.”
In the meantime, MTCO is preparing capacity-building programmes to foster inclusive tourism with some development partners.
Details will be confirmed during the second half of the year.
Since the last MTF in Lijiang, the MTCO has led capacity-building programmes(training for trainers) to improve digital skills for women in tourism communities in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, working with the ASEAN Japan Centre (AJC), the Ministry of Tourism Laos and the Asian Development Bank. The participants have recently run their own training in their communities to use digital skills to promote their tourism products online. AJC provided financial support, while MTCO initiated and acted as the coordinating agency.
The Mekong Region comprises Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The six countries fund the MTCO with equal contributions.
If the MTCO is quiet regarding its plans for the next annual Mekong Tourism Forum, Destination Mekong, the high-flying agency responsible for marketing the Mekong Region through partnerships with the private sector, is even quieter. The most recent mention of activity was recorded on its website in May 2024, when it announced a collaboration with Netblitz. Since then, a digital slowdown of communications has been apparent after it recorded details of its Annual General Meeting on 4 July 2023. The Cambodian-based marketing organisation (registered in Singapore) heads towards its next AGM scheduled for July 2025, when it is due to appoint members to its board. Destination Mekong is led by its CEO, Catherine Germier-Hamel, and its Chief Marketing Officer, Gerrit Kruger. TTRW messaged questions to both executives and awaits a response. Destination Mekong’s CEO did respond. She confirmed: “My three-year contract with DM ended on 31 October 2024. Your valid questions should be asked to Dr Jens Thraenhart and Gerrit Kruger.”
