Laos: On June 25, 2025, the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) member countries officially launched the “GMS Tourism Development Strategic 2030,” a comprehensive initiative for which they have collectively proposed a substantial investment exceeding US$1,000 million.
This significant financial commitment, supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), underscores the member countries’ shared vision of transforming the GMS into a leading global tourism destination.
The proposed funds will primarily be allocated to 47 priority projects focused on developing tourism infrastructure, enhancing service quality, and diversifying tourism products, including the construction of 14 new tourism routes and corridors across the subregion.
The comprehensive “GMS Tourism Development Strategic Plan 2030” outlines four core strategies and nineteen priority programs. These strategies encompass:
Strategy 1: Building Sustainable Tourism Destinations
This strategy focuses on five key programs: strengthening integrated planning, boosting SME participation in the supply chain, implementing common standards, developing climate-resilient infrastructure, and expanding tourism services.
Strategy 2: Developing Human Capital
This strategy aims to enhance skills through five programs: strengthening tourism managers’ capacity, improving service quality, boosting digital skills, expanding sustainable tourism awareness, and diversifying the workforce.
Strategy 3: Strengthening Stakeholder Engagement
This strategy emphasizes collaboration with five programs: strengthening inter-sectoral coordination, boosting public-private collaboration, reinforcing the Mekong Tourism Coordination Office’s implementation, improving crisis communication, and strengthening visa coordination.
Strategy 4: Expanding the Promotion of Tourism Destinations
This strategy targets increased visibility with four programs: jointly developing and promoting multi-country experiences and routes, strengthening the GMS’s promotion as a single sustainable destination, enhancing tourism statistics collection and dissemination, and organizing the Mekong Tourism Forum annually.
This substantial financial commitment from GMS member countries signals a strong collective effort to realize the strategic plan’s vision of fostering inclusive economic growth and responsible tourism management across the region.
The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), also known as the Greater Mekong, is a transnational area in Southeast Asia encompassing the Mekong River basin. Home to over 300 million people, it was established in 1992 through a development program initiated by the Asian Development Bank.
This program united six Asian countries: Cambodia, China (specifically Yunnan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region), Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
