{"id":280,"date":"2025-07-02T03:01:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T20:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/?p=280"},"modified":"2025-10-18T16:37:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T10:07:39","slug":"myanmar-to-host-2026-mekong-tourism-forum-as-laos-concludes-successful-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/?p=280","title":{"rendered":"Myanmar to Host 2026 Mekong Tourism Forum as Laos Concludes Successful 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>29 June<\/strong> \u2014 The 2025 Mekong Tourism Forum concluded on a high note this week, marking a new chapter in regional tourism cooperation as <strong>Laos officially handed over the forum\u2019s hosting responsibilities to Myanmar<\/strong> for the 2026 edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The symbolic flag handover took place during the closing ceremony in Vientiane and was presided over by <strong>Phonemaly Inthaphome<\/strong>, Director General of the Tourism Development Department under the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism. She passed the flag to <strong>U Maung Maung Kyaw<\/strong>, Director General of Myanmar\u2019s Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, solidifying Myanmar\u2019s role as the next host of this pivotal regional event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>\u201cTravel Together, Grow Together\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Held from <strong>June 24 to 27<\/strong> in the UNESCO World Heritage city of <strong>Luang Prabang<\/strong>, the 2025 forum adopted the theme <em>&#8220;Travel Together, Grow Together,&#8221;<\/em> emphasizing the importance of <strong>solidarity, trust, mutual understanding, and respect<\/strong> in advancing tourism in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phonemaly commended the <strong>active participation<\/strong> of all six GMS countries \u2014 Cambodia, China (Yunnan and Guangxi provinces), Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam \u2014 highlighting their shared commitment to sustainable and inclusive tourism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Highlights and Achievements<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This year\u2019s forum featured a blend of high-level policy discussions and grassroots engagement, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Conferences<\/strong> on sustainable tourism policy and regional collaboration.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tourism product exhibitions<\/strong> showcasing the diversity of Mekong travel experiences.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Study tours<\/strong> to agritourism sites, cultural heritage landmarks, and eco-tourism attractions in Luang Prabang province.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Participants also explored <strong>strategies for community-based tourism<\/strong> and public-private partnerships aimed at enhancing <strong>service quality<\/strong> and improving the <strong>livelihoods of local populations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Platform for Regional Solidarity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The forum reflected growing collaboration between the public and private sectors,&#8221; Phonemaly said, &#8220;and reinforced our joint efforts to build <strong>resilient tourism systems<\/strong> that benefit communities across the Mekong region.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Myanmar prepares to host the <strong>2026 Mekong Tourism Forum<\/strong>, expectations are high for continued progress in advancing <strong>sustainable tourism development<\/strong>, promoting cross-border cultural exchanges, and deepening regional ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The successful conclusion of the 2025 forum signals a collective momentum for a more connected, inclusive, and people-centered tourism landscape in the heart of Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: Xinhua<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>29 June \u2014 The 2025 Mekong Tourism Forum concluded on a high note this week, marking a new chapter in regional tourism cooperation as Laos officially handed over the forum\u2019s hosting responsibilities to Myanmar for <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/?p=280\" title=\"Myanmar to Host 2026 Mekong Tourism Forum as Laos Concludes Successful 2025\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,16],"tags":[62,26,53],"class_list":{"0":"post-280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-myanmar","8":"category-travel","9":"tag-mekong","10":"tag-myanmar","11":"tag-travel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=280"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282,"href":"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions\/282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahamekong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}