VIENTIANE, March 2 (Bernama) -- Vientiane expects some 800,000 tourist arrivals this year, compared with some 700,000 last year, Laos KPL news agency reported the Vientiane Tourism Service as saying.

"2009 saw slightly over 711,000 foreign tourists entering Vientiane, lagging behind the 2008's record by 88,049," Head of Vientiane Tourism Service, Khampadith Khemmanith told a press conference.

"The decline in the tourist number is due to the global economic recession, the political unrest in Thailand and the spread of A(H1N1)," he said.

However, investment in tourism over the last one year has been increased, especially in establishing tour operators and hotels.

Khemmanith said that the Tourism Service of Vientiane Capital has several projects to improve the tourism environment in Vientiane .

He also said that that the main tourism markets of Vientiane are the US, Canada, France, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Thailand, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, China and Vietnam.

A five-star hotel and the first entertainment complex in Laos, which also includes a casino, was inaugurated recently in Savannakhet province.

The Savan Vegas Hotel and Casino, which is located on the entrepot and intersection of the West-East economic corridor, would make an important contribution to the socio-economic development in Laos central region, local officials said.

Construction of the $US50 million Savan Vegas-hotel project started in August 2007.

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