Dien Bien, Luang Prabang provinces tighten cultural, tourism links

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Representatives of the Dien Bien Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Luang Prabang Department of Information, Culture and Tourism sign a cooperation document

Representatives of the Dien Bien Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Luang Prabang Department of Information, Culture and Tourism said both provinces are home to diverse natural landscapes and ethnic groups with different cultures, major resources for developing cultural – historical tourism, ecotourism, spiritual tourism and community-based tourism.

Dien Bien also houses the special national historical relic site “Dien Bien Phu Battlefield”, most notably associated with Vietnam’s resistance war against France.

They said in 2017 and 2018, the two departments have organised various activities, helping boost relations and encourage people to support exchanges and cooperation programmes.

They have worked to connect travel firms of Dien Bien and Luang Prabang, organised fact-finding trips for businesses, and coordinated to distribute promotion publications among Vietnamese and Lao people. These activities have resulted in positive outcomes, helping to promote integration, serving the protection of the border and supporting external work, officials said.

At the talks, the two sides agreed that in 2019 and 2020, Dien Bien and Luang Prabang will strengthen solidarity, mutual understanding and cooperation in culture and image promotion. They will open refresher courses for local art troupes and increase cultural exchanges and photo exhibitions. The provinces will also step up learning about each other’s tourism to create inter-provincial tours, popularise their tourism products and stay updated on relevant information about investment, business and tourism opportunities in each country.

They further agreed to propose authorities open a direct air route linking Dien Bien and Luang Prabang.

After the talks, the two departments signed a memorandum of understanding on reinforcing cultural and tourism partnerships.