VIENTIANE, 24 January 2018: “I can’t find accurate information about the country,” is the most common reason why tourists are not considering a trip to Laos, according to start-up website We Are Lao.
Tourists who return time and time again to neighbouring countries often fail to cross the border and visit Laos, the website owner claimed, blaming it on a content void, that he has decided to fill it with WeAreLao.com.
We Are Lao Media says it has created the most informative, promotional, and up-to-date Lao tourism website, while providing a multimedia marketing platform that benefits all Lao tourism stakeholders.
“We Are Lao’s site launched Monday and represents the culmination of 18 months of development leading to some 500 pages across seven categories,” said We Are Lao co-founder, John Morris Williams. “We plan to add 300-plus pages this year as well as open two more main menu categories.”
Through the WeAreLao.com portal, potential visitors and foreign travel agents can directly link to We Are Lao members. These include accommodation suppliers of all types, tour operators, travel agents, airlines, drinking and dining establishments, and tourist attractions and related activities.
“There are no commissions, pop-ups, or banner clutter,” stated Mr Williams, who is also the general manager of the Luang Prabang View Hotel.
“Descriptive direct-link advertisements with graphics underpin We Are Lao’s membership packages. Members select specific pages, on the bottom of which we place their linked adverts. Our finely tuned search engines for finding tour operators, accommodation, travel agents, restaurants, and airlines yield similar looking and linked results.”
Williams stressed that the site’s main appeal is its breadth of informative content. “Content is king,” he said, “We’ve thoroughly covered the 18 provinces under ‘Destinations’, each of which has eight sub-topics. These pages can be accessed by a drop down mega-menu or interactive map. Information under our ‘Getting to Laos’ menu item is also quite extensive.”
He said “Things to Do” with its “Dining Out” search engine and “The Mekong” have firm foundations of information, which We Are Lao will fill out in 2018 after “Facts” goes up. “Find a Tour” and “Where to Stay” lead to search engines that match provinces with tour categories and accommodation types.
Other membership benefits include reaching We Are Lao’s database of travel trade decision makers from more than 40 countries and subscribed tourists via trade media publications, directly distributed press releases, blog posts, and newsletters. We Are Lao has established a growing social media presence on which Members can reach their markets.
Travel agents and potential visitors benefit by having a solid information source backed by social media and direct email connectivity to Lao businesses, who are seeking to avoid revenue-draining OTA and booking engine deals.
