TTG Asia Luxury May 2018 | Page 59

destination alt-luxe New luxury? It’s Luang Prabang Think alternative or emerging luxury destination in Asia and a lot of travel experts will have two words on their lips: Luang Prabang. Raini Hamdi finds out why Above Stunning temples in the old town W hile overall international arrivals to Laos have taken a hit, Luang Prabang is bucking the trend, and the addition of luxury hotels this year, among them a Rosewood, Sofitel and Avani+, is anticipated to stoke up a nicely burning fire among upmarket visitors to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Laos has been on a downward trend since 2016, with foreign arrivals dropping 10 per cent to 4.2 million in 2016 over 2015, and again 9.1 per cent to 2.9 million in the first nine months of 2017 (latest available figures at press time from the Ministry of Information, Culture & Tourism) over the same period in 2016. However, Luang Prabang saw a growth of 5.3 per cent in 2016 to 469,586 foreign arrivals, inching up as the third most-visited province by international visitors after the capital, Vientiane, and Savannakhet. Between 2010 and 2016, overseas arrivals to Luang Prabang rose 205 per cent. Australia chalked up the highest growth for Luang Prabang in 2016 (10.9 per cent), followed by Canada (5.9 per cent), France (4.7 per cent), Germany (4.3 per cent) and China (4.1 per cent). A lack of destination marketing – especially when other ASEAN destinations have stepped up their TTG Asia luxury | May 2018 53