Savankhone Razmountry, vice minister of information, culture and tourism, made the remark at a meeting in the Laotian capital of Vientiane with editors from the Asia News Network. The ANN is an alliance of 23 English-language media outlets across Asia, including The Japan News.

The Southeast Asian nation’s government has set the goal of graduating from LDC status “during the period from 2025 to 2030,” Razmountry said.

The list of countries — currently 47 — in the LDC category is reviewed every three years by the U.N. Economic and Social Council based on three criteria: gross national income (GNI) per capita, human assets, and economic vulnerability. According to data from the 2015 triennial review, the GNI per capita of Laos is US$1,232 — already close to the graduation threshold of US$1,242.

At the ANN meeting, the vice minister also stressed that tourism promotion of the country — which is rich in wildlife and cultural properties including the Unesco World Heritage site of Luang Prabang — is “an important engine” to ensure economic development.

The government plans to increase the number of foreign visitors from the current level of about 4 million to “6 or 7 million in the coming years,” Razmountry said. He called for more foreign investment to build infrastructure such as roads, international airports and hotels in the inland nation.

Razmountry highlighted the increasing need for educational cooperation from foreign countries to develop relevant human resources. Having been part of the socialist bloc before the end of the Cold War, Laos still receives scholarships from former bloc members such as China, Russia and Vietnam, according to the vice minister.

He said in an interview that his firm now has more than 15,000 visitors on their website and nearly 30,000 visitors on their Facebook page every month, and expects the figure to be doubled by the end of this year.

“We have now acquired around 400 bookings so far, and hope to receive more after the low season ends. Our customer base will grow together with the rising number of people visiting us through the website and social network channels,” he said.

“We mainly target to achieve 5,000 customers by April 2017. We hope to enjoy 50 per cent growth on a monthly basis.”

Ten months of impressive traction has brought 55 tour companies and over 150 local experts generating opportunities across the nation. The firm now has a team of five permanent staff and aims to expand both its network and workforce over time, he said.

Nyunt Win Aung plans to improve content marketing via Facebook as a primary channel for promotion. A mobile application will be introduced in the fist week of November. In the long run, he hopes to focus on automation, in addition to expansion of the workforce to 30 staff.

“We aim to make travelling easy for everyone. That is why we decided to create a time-saving and cost-effective platform for local travellers. We are confident that our business will be stronger despite stiff competition in the market,” he said.

“Normally, when people think of visiting somewhere, they have to buy tickets for transportation, find the best hotel that would suit their needs and book it in advance, and hire either taxis or motorbikes to go to their favourite destinations. All the processes usually take time. So we created a one-stop platform gathering tour operators, local guides and travellers for their own convenience. They no longer need to bother or worry about their trips.”

According to Nyunt Win Aung, the firm’s services are now available in all the states and regions in Myanmar, except Kachin State where he hopes to launch next year.

He said the top favourite destination by far is the ancient city of Bagan, followed by Mandalay and destinations in Shan State such as Taunggyi, Kalaw, and Inlay Lake. He hopes to receive more bookings for trips to the nation’s popular beaches such as Ngapali, Ngwe Saung, Chaung Tha and Gawyingyikyun.

Regional winner

The firm is an alumnus of Telenor’s accelerator programme and Phandeeyar: Myanmar Innovation Lab, from which they received pre-seed funding. Earlier this year, the firm won US$10,000 to venture further, as it took the top prize among more than 250 applicants at the 2017 Mekong Business Initiative Innovation Grants supported by Asia Development Bank.

At the event, promising tourism start-ups across Southeast Asia vied for securing four grants up to $10,000 (Bt333,000). The firm won two steps of the competition in Cambodia and Laos, respectively.

He said all their customers were satisfied with the firm’s service. He was proud to say that around 40 per cent of people travelling with the firm became return customers.

“We always try to ensure smooth transportation and nice accommodation for our customers at the best price. Perhaps this is our strength that sets us apart from others,” he said.

He said the firm took its customers’ feedback into serious consideration. It usually collects customer satisfaction data either by phone or through a survey form after the trip. In this regard, the firm can determine the rating of its partners to ensure better services.

He said cost effectiveness fuelled people’s interest in travelling with the firm. He added it costs a minimum Ks35,000 (Bt857) to the maximum Ks180,000 per trip, which he said is affordable for even low-income people.

The report also finds that consumers in Southeast Asia continue to be among the world’s most confident.

Despite decreasing by two points, the Philippines with 130 points has surpassed India with 121 points to become the most confident country in the world.

Indonesia ranks fourth with a score of 122 while Thailand drops to 10th with 107.

Confidence levels bounced back in Malaysia and Singapore, which score 94 and 89.

Unlike last year, consumers in Vietnam are no longer the most avid savers globally.

The study shows that 63 per cent of Vietnamese put their spare cash into savings (compared to 76 per cent in the previous quarter), following Thailand (69 per cent), Singapore and Indonesia (66 per cent).

Consumers in Vietnam continue to spend more on big-ticket items.

After covering essential living expenses, around one in three Vietnamese consumers are willing to spend on things like holidays (38 per cent), new clothes (36 per cent), new technology products (31 per cent), home improvement (30 per cent), and out of home entertainment (29 per cent). Twenty-three per cent have medical insurance.

Nguyen Huong Quynh, managing director of Nielsen Vietnam, said: “In contrast to the volatility of the fast moving consumer goods market in the first half of the year, Vietnamese consumer sentiment is getting better. This upsurge is due to consumers’ optimistic perception of personal finances and immediate spending intentions.

“Vietnamese consumers pay closer attention to what is happening, easily being influenced by word of mouth and social media, and quickly react, which makes them continuously evolving consumers.

“Therefore, manufacturers and retailers need to have ‘real time’ understanding of the emerging consumer trends and take faster actions to meet their demands.”

The top five concerns of Vietnamese consumers remain the same as in the last quarter of 2016.

Job security continues to top the list at 48 per cent, followed by health (38 per cent), work/life balance (25 per cent), the economy (20 per cent), and parents’ welfare and happiness (17 per cent). “While consumers continue to be upbeat about their future, financial security remains one of their top priorities,” Quynh said.

“Both job security and economic outlook have a direct impact on consumers’ degree of financial security, and hence remain key concerns.

“It is not a surprise that in the current context, consumers are looking for healthier lives or even total wellness. Thus, this trend offers both manufactures and retailers the opportunity to innovate and develop the next generation of offerings.”

Globalisation and technological changes have contributed to unprecedented economic growth, improvement in living standards, and poverty reduction. But these could also bring about structural unemployment in the short to medium terms, delegates heard on the second day of the Apec Economic Committee meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday. Structural unemployment is caused by changes in an economy, such as shifting labour demand patterns due to affluence, capital accumulation, urbanisation, international trade, or changes in technology, according to the 2017 Apec Economic Policy Report.

These changes lead to a mismatch between the skills of job seekers and those required for emerging job opportunities, it said.

In their individual economy reports, Apec countries identify skills mismatch as a key challenge in their labour markets. Young workers are not always gaining the right skills to prepare them for employment, leading to a high level of youth unemployment in several economies. Meanwhile, ageing population means older workers need to continue working while learning new skills.

Improving the labour force participation of young people, women, minorities and other disadvantaged group is a continuing effort among Apec economies. There are also some gaps in human capital development in the region. About a third of Apec economies have a secondary school net enrolment rate of below 60 per cent.

The unemployment rate among people aged 15-25 was above 10 per cent in 13 of Apec’s 21 economies in 2015. Moreover, 30 per cent of employed people in the region are unpaid family workers.

On the first day of the meeting, the committee discussed the Apec–OECD Framework on Competition Assessment. This sets out non-binding principles for implementing consistent competition assessment in Apec member economies. It also promotes Apec-wide co-operation on competition assessment.

Police intercepted the Rohingya late Saturday after they crossed the “zero line” border zone, where Myanmar soldiers earlier fired mortars and machine guns at villagers making the dangerous dash from the northern state of Rakhine into Bangladesh.

The villagers were caught roughly four kilometres inside Bangladeshi territory en route to a refugee camp in Kutupalong, where thousands of Rohingya already live in squalid conditions, said local police chief Abul Khaer.

“All 70 were detained and later pushed back to Myanmar by the border guards,” Khaer told AFP.

Police said some of those detained had entered Bangladesh via the Ghumdhum border area — where the Myanmar forces unleashed the barrage of fire just hours earlier.

“They were pleading with us not to send them back to Myanmar,”  said one policeman on condition of anonymity.

Rakhine has become a hotbed of religious hatred focused on the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, who are reviled and spurned as illegal immigrants in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Despite years of persecution, the Rohingya largely eschewed violence.

But in October a new militant group — the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) — attacked a string of Myanmar border posts, sparking a military crackdown that left scores dead and forced 87,000 people to flee to Bangladesh.

The latest violence erupted early on Friday as scores of men purportedly from ARSA, ambushed Myanmar police posts.

Using knives, some guns and homemade explosives they killed at least a dozen security force members.

Remote villages along the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar have seen fierce fighting since then between suspected militants and Myanmar security forces.

The violence has left a total of more than 100 dead since Friday and forced thousands of Rohingya to flee towards Bangladesh.

But authorities there have refused to let most of them in, with thousands of people — mainly women and children — stranded along the border zone.

The Bangladeshi government has instructed local officials in Cox’s Bazar, the district bordering Myanmar that is home to several large refugee camps, not to allow any “illegal entry” by Rohingya, Abdur Rahman, a senior government official, told AFP.

The impoverished country already hosts some 400,000 Rohingya refugees.

But Rohingya community leaders, local media and an AFP correspondent said despite heavy border patrols, at least 3,000 Rohingya refugees have managed to enter the country and found refuge in camps and villages since Friday.

In Rakhine itself six members of a Hindu family have become the latest victims of the violence. Their bullet-riddled bodies — including three children and a woman — were discovered on Sunday and brought to a hospital in Maungdaw, the main town in northern Rakhine.

The victims had allegedly been shot dead by Rohingya militants on Saturday evening as they tried to flee to Maungdaw, a relative who lived in the town told AFP.

“We were still in contact with them yesterday by phone before they were killed. Now their dead bodies are in this hospital,” the distraught man told an AFP reporter.

The office of Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi posted pictures of some of the victims on its Facebook account, saying two women and four children survived the ambush and alerted authorities.

Myanmar’s Rohingya are the world’s largest stateless minority and endure severe restrictions on their movements.

Northern Rakhine has been stalked by violence since last October, with civilians trapped between security forces and the militants — who are accused of conducting a shadowy assassination campaign against perceived collaborators with the state.

Rohingya, meanwhile, live in fear of police and troops.

“They arrest and beat whoever they see along the way,” a man, who gave his first name as Anawar, told AFP Sunday morning by phone.

“Not everyone is terrorist,” he added. “We want a peaceful and calm society.”//AFP