The first time of the workshop on ICT and E-tourism was kicked off on 13-15th November 2007 in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The three-day workshop at the Economic Research Institute for Trade, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Lao PDR was jointly organized by MoIC, Lao National tourism Administration, and UNCTAD/TrainForTrade Project, with financial support from France Government. Around 35 representatives from ministries, public and private tour operators were participated in the workshop. The workshop was designed to build up the knowledge on using ICT into tourism industry in order to assist on building the awareness of both public and private sectors to ICT on tourism.
As we all are aware that, tourism is a growing sector of interest for developing and least developed countries. The UN World Tourism Organization has worked toward promoting international tourism as one of the most valuable economic sectors for sustainable development and provides invaluable guidance to countries that have made tourism a central element of their economic development and poverty reduction strategy. In case of Laos, tourism is booming in Laos and it becomes a new tourism destination for many countries.
The objectives of the workshop is to identify the opportunities and challenges which ICTs represent in the tourism sector as well as to focus on the different responsibilities and challenges for actors when defining a national e-tourism strategy. The workshop was also designed to assist the participants to be aware of the potential of ICTs, particularly that of the internet, as additional distribution channels for promoting destinations more fairly and to understand the impact of ICTs, and the internet in particular, regarding the changing role of Destination Management Organization.
