Issues That Need Further Research in the Thesis

- In theory:

Up to now, there has been no systematic and comprehensive research on tourism in the context of market economic development and international integration of the Lao PDR from the perspective of political economy.

There has been no systematic analysis of the factors constituting the tourism market, the relationship between the tourism market and socio-economic development and the factors affecting the tourism market. The contents of the published works have not clarified the role of factors belonging to the productive forces and production relations in the process of tourism market movement of the whole country in general and of Luang Prabang province in particular.

Published works still lack a system of criteria for evaluating the results of tourism activities in a provincial area with many unique features such as Luang Prabang province of Lao PDR.

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- In practice :

Up to now, there has been no research project that systematically summarizes and evaluates the current situation, proposes directions and solutions to promote the development of tourism in Luang Prabang province until 2025 and vision to 2030 based on political economic theory. For the above reasons, the researcher chose the topic "Tourism market in Luang Prabang province, Lao People's Democratic Republic" to research for his PhD thesis in Economics, which is new, does not overlap with published research results and has theoretical and practical significance.

1.3.2. Issues that need further research in the thesis

To contribute to "filling" the above gap and promoting the development of tourism in Luang Prabang province, Lao PDR in the coming time, the researcher focuses on clarifying the following issues:

- In theory:

Building a theoretical basis for the tourism market in a provincial area from the perspective of political economy. Specifically, the thesis will clarify the economic relations in this market including the concept, characteristics of the tourism market, content, and operating mechanism.

practices, economic benefits, evaluation criteria and factors affecting the development of this market associated with new requirements of market economic development and international integration of the Lao PDR.

- In practice:

The thesis refers to the research on tourism development experience of some provinces with many similarities in and outside the Lao PDR on both successful and unsuccessful aspects to draw lessons for Luang Prabang province.

The thesis researches, analyzes and evaluates the current situation of tourism market in Luang Prabang province, Lao PDR based on the theoretical framework of economic relations of this market.

The thesis forecasts the trends and prospects of tourism development, pointing out the opportunities and challenges for tourism development requirements in Luang Prabang province until 2025 and vision to 2030.

The thesis proposes directions and main solutions to promote tourism development in Luang Prabang province from now to 2025 and vision to 2030.

Chapter 2

THEORETICAL BASIS AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE OF TOURISM MARKET

2.1. CONCEPT, CHARACTERISTICS AND ROLE OF TOURISM MARKET

2.1.1. Concept and elements of tourism market

2.1.1.1. Concept of tourism market

The tourism market is a component of the market system of the economy. The process of socio-economic development has been strongly promoted, the development of this market its role is increasing. Tourism is increasingly an indispensable need in the cultural and social life of people whether they live in developed countries or developing countries anywhere in the world. Accordingly, awareness of tourism is increasingly deeper.

Up to now, there have been many different concepts of tourism. According to UNWTO (1986): "Tourism includes all activities of individuals traveling to, from and staying in places outside their usual place of residence for a short period of time (more than one year) for different purposes except for the purpose of earning daily income". According to the Law on Tourism of Vietnam (2017) in Chapter I, Article 3:

Tourism is activities related to human trips outside their usual place of residence for a period of no more than 01 consecutive year to meet the needs of sightseeing, relaxation, entertainment, learning, exploring tourism resources or in combination with other legitimate purposes [65, p.1].

According to the Lao Tourism Law (amended in 2013), in Chapter I, Article 2:

Tourism is a journey from one's usual place of residence to another locality or country for sightseeing, relaxation, entertainment, cultural and sports exchange, physical and mental development, research, exhibition, meeting, etc., excluding the purpose of finding work and practicing to earn money [31, p.1].

Thus, tourism is the implementation of a human trip, with many specific separate purposes to another place without settling down and returning after the trip . Activities in providing tourism goods and services for business purposes through serving tourists are called tourism business. In the economy, tourism business has become a separate economic sector, distinct from other economic sectors. According to Nguyen Van Dinh and Tran Thi Minh Hoa, "Tourism business is an industry that includes activities of organizing tour guides, production, exchange of goods and services of enterprises, to meet the needs of travel, accommodation, food, sightseeing, entertainment, learning and other needs of tourists" [46]. Accordingly, tourism business requires social entities to establish interactive relationships in all activities directly related to the production, exchange, distribution, and consumption of tourism products with the goal of satisfying the increasing needs of people in a society with limited resources. In that sense, tourism business is an activity belonging to the tourism economy.

Tourism economy, like other economic sectors, is a component of the national economy. According to the approach of C.Marx and F.Engels, the reproduction process includes four stages: production, distribution, exchange (circulation) and consumption. They believe that:

Production and, following production, the exchange of the products of production, are the basis of all social systems, that in every society that has appeared in history, the distribution of products, and with it the division of society into classes or estates, are determined by the situation: what is produced and how it is produced, and how the products of this production are exchanged [59, p.371].

The movement of tourism economy is not outside of that process. It also includes the four stages mentioned above. In which, production is the first stage, consumption is the last stage, exchange or circulation and distribution of tourism products are two intermediate stages connecting production with consumption.

In a market economy, the exchange/circulation of tourism products must inevitably take place on the market. Because the production of tourism goods and services is highly specialized and professional, the supply and exchange of this type of product also takes place on a separate market with specific characteristics, distinct from other markets and called TTDL.

In terms of world economic history, tourism was formed and developed since ancient Greece with types of tourism businesses such as trade, entertainment, sports tourism (such as the Olympic Games in 760 BC), then spread to many other countries, such as China, India, Rome... and added new tourism products and services such as natural mineral water tourism, landscape tourism, beach tourism... By the 15th - 17th centuries, along with the economic development process and the successes of expeditions with great geographical discoveries of explorers in Western European countries, the market for goods and services was expanded to many other countries, even to places that Western countries called new lands, making tourism more expanded not only within the national scope but also internationally. The emergence and development of the capitalist market economy replacing the simple commodity economy of the feudal era since the English bourgeois revolution in the mid-17th century has created conditions for the development of this type of market. The emergence and development of the market economy is an inevitable result of the development of productive forces and social division of labor. According to VI Lenin: "Wherever and whenever there is social division of labor and commodity production, there and then there is also a market. The market is nothing more than a manifestation of social division and therefore can develop endlessly" [56, p.114].

The strong development of tourism began in the 19th century, when the advances of the Industrial Revolution allowed the development of activities serving the purpose of relaxation, cultural, social reasons, etc. According to researchers, Thomas Cook (Thomas Cook (1808 - 1892) was a British businessman. He was famous for founding the travel company Thomas Cook & Son) was the first businessman to consider tourism as a commercial activity, in

in 1841 when he made the first organized historical tour. A decade later, Cook embarked on a new commercial venture to form a travel agency (known as Thomas Cook and Son), something that had never been conceived before.

Today, tourism is one of the major industries worldwide. It includes group travel attracted by a tour operator and individual travel (individuals who organize their own itineraries and activities without the intervention of a third party).

Among the cities with the most tourist activities on the planet, there are Barcelona (which attracts audiences with works of art such as the La Sagrada building by Antoni Gaudi, one of the great masters of modernism), Paris (with its iconic Eiffel Tower, the Seine and the Champs-Elysées), Madrid (with its color and diversity, its architectural exponents and the Prado Museum) Cancun (the destination of those who crave a break on the beaches) and London (parks and monuments decorated like Big Ben, and with an outstanding nightlife in the Center)… The tourism market has not only become popular but also become a pioneering sector, a "locomotive" for promoting the development of other markets in the economy.

Along with that development process, there have been different concepts in the perception of the tourism market. According to the International Labor Office, "the tourism market includes all people and businesses that buy and sell tourism services and products, called stakeholders" (http://translate.google.com). This concept is used to describe a socio-economic relationship between people in tourism product transactions approached from the perspective of economic management. According to Wiki Didactic, the tourism market "is a place where supply and demand for tourism products and services circulate", "where the supply of tourism products and services converge and the demand is interested and promoted to consume those tourism products and services" [111]. The forces participating in the tourism market include buyers and sellers. In this market, suppliers of different types of products and services

can be adjusted according to different needs and reasons of buyers, that is, tourism supply must meet tourism demand although tourism products are often specific to regions, areas, and countries. This concept describes the behavior of market entities, paying attention to the behavior of producers and suppliers of tourism goods and services.

According to Associate Professor Nguyen Van Luu, "Tourism market is a "meeting place" between supply and demand that is suitable in terms of type, quality, quantity, time of supply, supply rate as well as other types of services in the tourism sector" [57, p.11]. According to this concept, tourism market is understood as a place or location where the exchange of tourism goods and services takes place, a place where tourism supply and demand for a certain good or service is concentrated and implemented, is the totality of economic relations formed between tourists and tourism businesses, when social labor to produce those goods and services is recognized as necessary social labor. The above concept is approached from the perspective of tourism economics.

With the above concepts, it can be seen that the basic attributes of the tourism market include tourism products or tourism goods and services, buyers and sellers of those goods and services through the market price system. However, the above concepts are only used to directly describe the economic relations of the two subjects, the buyers and sellers of tourism products, and have not yet pointed out the attributes of the dynamics of the socio-economic relations taking place in this market and the relationship between the tourism market and the stages and markets in the economy as a whole.

In addition, it should be noted that, in today's conditions, under the impact of the fourth industrial revolution, with the outstanding development of information technology and digital economy, the scope of tourism is no longer limited to one place or one location as it was understood many years ago. For example, Internet of things (IoT) technology is related to many tourism trends, including the connection between buyers and sellers of tourism products, the transaction relationships of tourism goods and services are carried out.

right on smart websites without necessarily having to go to a specific place or location. The rapid development of many types of technology such as virtual reality (VR) with many applications in the tourism industry including high-end entertainment, tourism combining physical elements such as controllers or seats and mobile platforms. Augmented reality (AR) technology is a tourism information center in which there is a combination of real-world experiences and virtual elements such as smartphone games (Pokémon Go) that can show tourists information about the area they are exploring (such as historical sites, museums, menus for entertainment venues, local eateries, etc.) and provide tourists with on-site tourism experiences without necessarily having to travel to the place where the product or type of tourism service is available, making the demand for tourism increase very quickly. Therefore, tourism information center does not necessarily have to be a specific place or location. It must be an economic process involving the interaction of supply and demand for tourism products.

From the above analysis, according to the approach of political economy, it can be understood that tourism market is a stage of the social reproduction process, a component of the system of different types of markets, in which transactional relations take place between buyers and sellers of tourism products to meet the needs and interests of market participants . In other words, tourism market is the sum of economic behaviors and relations manifested in the process of exchanging tourism products. The basic contradiction of tourism market is the contradiction between demand and supply of tourism products.

2.1.1.2. Elements that make up the tourism market

The factors that make up the tourism market include supply and demand for tourism, relationships between entities including buyers, sellers of tourism products and entities providing tourism services.

- Tourism bridge

Demand for tourism is the quantity of tourism goods and services that tourists are willing and able to buy at different prices during a given period of time. For each given price, there is a certain quantity demanded.

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