- Regarding opportunities : The development of world and regional tourism is in a rapid state, integrating with the new era, especially in 2020, World Tourism predicts that China and Thailand will be the countries with the most developed tourism, certainly these two countries will be the most important tourism markets of the Lao PDR. In general, Laos's economic integration policy with countries in the ASEAN region, countries in the Mekong region with developed tourism is a very important factor to attract tourism to Laos to develop and tourism management work has the ability to perform well and be highly effective.
- Impact on state management by law on tourism activities in Lao PDR : as we know, Laos is an underdeveloped country, with large land, many mountains, small population, people are only concentrated in the city, tourism infrastructure is gradually invested but the lack of synchronization, patchwork in infrastructure development makes tourism not really promoted, not convenient to access destinations, not meeting development requirements, especially tourist areas in remote, mountainous areas, no roads to go to and few people in rural areas can read and write, causing many difficulties for state officials in propaganda work to disseminate and educate the law to the people.
+ Legal factors: From the most general perspective, the influence of legal factors on state management in tourism activities is first reflected in the quality of law making and promulgation. If the law making and promulgation are carried out scientifically and reasonably, the state will have a good tool, a tool with effective enforcement. On the contrary, if the quality of the construction is not good, there cannot be a perfect legal system as a management tool.
+ Political factors: Politics is a factor that has a significant impact on state management by law for tourism activities. A progressive, stable, and consistent political system will clearly have a positive impact on the construction, promulgation of laws, organization of law enforcement, settlement of complaints, denunciations, and handling of law violations. State management is also a form of political activity. Political nature is reflected in the tools and means of state management. Law (law represents the will of the ruling class). An unstable political system cannot produce
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Concept of State Management by Law for Tourism Activities
Without effective management tools, there cannot be a scientific inspection, examination and supervision mechanism, and it is impossible to ensure fairness in handling violations of the law.
- The current situation of the tourism market in the Lao People's Democratic Republic: The year 2014 was an important year for tourism in Laos. Although the increase in the number of tourists has decreased, the number of tourists visiting Laos has increased by 10% compared to 2013 (up from 13% in 2012-2013). However, the number of tourists has increased slightly, the proportion of the tourist market from neighboring countries has increased very slightly such as: Europe: 5.03% (5.6% in 2013), America: 2.07% (2.27% in 2013), Africa and the Middle East:
0.21% (0.21% in 2013).
Tourists were mostly from the ASEAN region in 2014: 3,224,080 people or 75% of all tourist arrivals and had an increase of 6% compared to 2013. International tourists were the largest and most important market for Lao PDR increasing from 550,732 people in 2013 to 568,844 in 2014 or an increase of 3% [14, p.10]
3.1.2. The process of formation and development of law and state management by law for tourism activities in the Lao People's Democratic Republic, before the Law on Tourism was promulgated
From 1965 to 1975, Laos was in a complicated and difficult situation, because this was a situation of fighting against American imperialism, Laos was invaded during this period, and at that time the issue of state management by law was not given attention. The Lao People's Party (now called the Lao People's Revolutionary Party) was established, under the leadership of the Lao People's Party, the war was gradually won, and on December 2, 1975, the Lao People's Democratic Republic was established and liberated. During this period, Laos gradually entered a new period, which was the period of building and developing a democratic republic, gradually moving towards socialism. After the country was completely liberated, the Lao People's Revolutionary Party proposed many policies to restore the socio-economic regime, the policy of solidarity between ethnic groups, and planned to implement socio-economic policies... under the leadership of the Party, but did not propose a legal development policy because: "The Democratic Republic regime was newly born and still young". Therefore, state management activities
State management of tourism has not been mentioned yet.
access as a separate field, but it is also included in the state management of the economy.
3.1.3. Period from 1975 to 1986
In general, during this period, the tourism industry's organizational system had not yet been truly defined and lacked uniformity in organizational models at the local level. During the meeting of the High-level People's Council (later called the National Assembly) in December 1975, the Lao Party and State proposed initial policies on the restoration and construction of the country after the war to implement the proposed policies. In particular, in the economic field, Laos focused on developing agriculture to meet the food needs of the people nationwide. In that context, the issue of state management of tourism had not yet received the attention of the State and few international tourists knew about the Lao PDR, because during this period the State only focused on improving the lives of the people.
In 1978, the State Planning Commission proposed a three-year plan for economic and social recovery and development (1978-1981), which was approved at the Second Party Congress in 1978. In the economic field, this plan aimed to build a socialist economy with the addition of other economic sectors. The State opened up to the outside world, and the tourism sector gradually played an important role in the Lao economy. At this stage, state management of the economy met the needs of the State. The State paid special attention to building legal systems and organizing state management by law. The state management apparatus for the economy was increasingly developed. State management by law solved many problems such as: there was no complete legal system, law enforcement was slow and not serious. At the same time, the issue of state management by law, especially tourism management, still has to apply the decisions of the Government and reports of agencies without legal authority, the obligations of state management agencies are still very limited.
At the 4th Party Congress (November 1986), the Lao Party and State determined to report on the organization of the development and promotion of cultural, natural and historical tourism and to meet the needs of the tourism industry and other service economic sectors. The State focused on developing infrastructure.
build roads connecting the whole country from the North to the South and connecting with neighboring countries. During the 5-year period (from 1981 to 1986), the Government made efforts to expand the border to attract international tourists. Visa exemption for some countries in ASEAN, expanding the airport to meet the development of tourism. Regarding the legal regulations and organizational apparatus related to the tourism sector during this period, there was no clear structure and the tourism agency was only a Tourism Committee under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism with the function and role of exchanging culture and sports between neighboring countries, without clear functions and tasks and without an official tourism service company.
In short, the state management of tourism has not received much attention from the State, therefore, the content of state management of tourism in this period is still poor and monotonous. This comes from the historical reality of the country, from the economic conditions at that time, as well as partly because the Lao State has not conducted research, has not had legal documents in the field of tourism, so tourism activities, organizations, units, and individuals conducting tourism business activities are also few or non-existent.
3.1.4. Period from 1986 to 1991
Entering the stage of building a rule-of-law state of the Lao Party and State, many legal documents in the economic and other fields have been issued. At the 4th Congress, the Lao People's Revolutionary Party mentioned the tourism sector, aiming to develop domestic and foreign tourism to actively contribute to the development of the economy - culture - society and increasingly effective international cooperation.
The state management function of tourism in Laos was separated from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, establishing the Lao Tourism General Department under the Ministry of Trade and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries. The Council of Ministers issued Decision No. 91/CTHDBT, dated October 4, 1989; on tourism. This was the first legal document related to the tourism sector, the Lao Government requested tourism businesses and tourism industry nationwide to attract more foreign tourists to participate in tourism in Laos, from Laos to foreign countries and between localities nationwide.
+ This decision also clearly defines that the tourism industry must be closely linked to the protection of national security and defense and under the management of the central government. Individuals and economic units are prohibited from carrying out tourism activities in the Lao PDR without the permission of the Ministry of Trade and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries [15, p.1].
+ For the implementation of tourism business and industry, mainly bringing tourists on signed contracts with each other, the contract must ensure safety, freedom, autonomy and convenience for tourists.
In particular, Article 5 of this document also stipulates the establishment of a “national fund to encourage tourism” [15, p.2] under the direction of the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Cooperation, and the Ministry of Planning and Finance, managed by the General Department of Tourism. That source of income includes: Tourism and hotel businesses are responsible for paying fees to the “national fund to encourage tourism” not exceeding 5% of their business income, assigned to the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Cooperation to determine specifically. That national fund is intended to pay fees to international tourism organizations, build and renovate tourist areas, and operate according to the program of the General Department of Tourism.
+ For provincial and capital authorities, the task is to introduce economic units to organize the production of goods in many forms and colors to sell and serve tourists, support the labor force for the tourism industry, organize the protection of political and social order and safety and cleanliness of localities and protect the environment. Politically manage and inspect and supervise tourism business units in their areas on the implementation of legal regulations on tourism.
During this period, the tourism industry gradually emerged, but the operating organizations lacked experience, so the direct direction of the state management apparatus on tourism from the Central to the provinces, cities and enterprises lost continuity, limited effectiveness and efficiency, and the tourism industry fell behind tourism in countries with similar conditions. The organization of the apparatus was not on par with the position, role and development requirements of the tourism industry; the staff was scattered, losing inheritance. Decision No. 91/CTHDBT also determined the rights and obligations of the Ministry of Trade and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries regarding state management of the tourism industry, but it was not yet
Decision on the organization of the tourism apparatus, regarding the tasks of the tourism management agency in Article 3 stated that:
- Responsible for determining and orienting the strategy of the tourism and hotel industry nationwide.
- Develop development plans and investment plans for the tourism industry, list the means and tourism workforce that are owned by each economic and social unit, focus on revising instructions on how to use the means in the tourism industry system to achieve high efficiency.
- Closely coordinate with central and local agencies related to the tourism industry, attract investment into the national tourism system according to the proposed plans.
- Requirements and regulations related to tourism and hotel activities.
- Guide, direct, inspect and supervise the implementation of strategies and legal regulations on tourism approved and promulgated by the State.
- Allow or disallow organizations and individuals to operate tourism businesses in different forms nationwide, oriented according to the policies of the Party and State.
- Allows the establishment and dissolution of travel companies.
- Implement and promote tourism.
- Register for cooperation with international and relevant diplomatic agencies and organizations
to the tourism industry.
- Training human resources in tourism [15, p.2].
The 5th Party Congress (June 1991) summarized the implementation of the 5-year renovation (1986 - 1990), showing the outstanding results of each socio-economic field, including tourism. The Congress affirmed that: " The Party and the State have encouraged the development and expansion of cultural, historical and natural tourism " [71, p.13], thus, the issue of state management of tourism was more clearly defined, the management apparatus was also improved and stabilized, to implement the Party and State's policy of strengthening economic and international cooperation to achieve higher efficiency, improve people's lives more and more, and tourism management as well as tourism business were properly implemented and had the participation of the Party and the State.
Unified nationwide, ensuring order - security and safety in society and creating favorable conditions for tourists when participating in tourism activities in Laos. The Ministry of Trade and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries issued Decree No. 306/BTM-DL, dated March 26, 1991, on tourism management and tourism industry. This Decree clearly defines the tourism industry as a complete service for domestic and foreign tourists in Laos. This Decree aims to encourage tourism, improve people's lives and especially encourage high-quality domestic production, popularize culture, customs, national cultural heritage, arts and sports, promote natural landscapes, build relationships with countries around the world and on the basis of mutual travel... these are issues that attract tourists to participate in tourism in Laos. The tourism service industry in Laos includes the following services:
1. Tourism business
2. Hotel and tourism business
3. Food, entertainment and tourism business.
4. Selling souvenirs and handicrafts for tourists.
5. Sports business serving tourists.
6. Organize exhibitions at local or national level.
At that time, the tourism agency had the right and obligation to act as a secretariat to assist the Ministry of Trade and Tourism, as a separate Department working on tourism, researching plans, strategies, encouraging tourism, researching legal education on principles and legal regulations to facilitate tourism development on the basis of ensuring national defense and security, researching and collecting data on the economy and tourism market...
Regarding the national fund to encourage tourism according to Article 8, which has been named "national fund to encourage tourism and tourism industry" [16, pp. 3-4], some contents have been added in this Decree such as: The Lao National Administration of Tourism is the manager and user of this national fund and if it wants to use it, it must have the permission of the Minister of Commerce and Tourism. The national fund includes:
- Fees paid to encourage tourism and tourism industry at a level not exceeding 5% of business income (excluding other taxes), fees paid by tourists and tourism industry services;
- Funds to support tourism development and tourism industry supported by State agencies and individuals.
- Aid from international organizations and agencies.
The above income must be paid into the “ national fund for tourism and tourism industry promotion”, build a treasury for national tourism service staff and use it for administrative management of Lao national tourism, and accumulate money to be used for programs related to tourism activities, tourism promotion and tourism service industry.
In short, during this period, the issue of state management by law for tourism activities in the Lao PDR is a very new issue. The issuance of decrees related to tourism is very rare, the state management function on tourism and the function of tourism business are not clearly defined, international cooperation on tourism has not been given much attention and expanded, and the training and development of human resources has not been properly invested. The direct direction of the state management apparatus on tourism from the Central to the provinces, cities and enterprises has lost continuity, limited effectiveness and efficiency, and the tourism industry has fallen behind that of other countries with similar conditions. The organization of the apparatus is not on par with the position, role and development requirements of the tourism industry; the staff is scattered, losing inheritance. International tourists to Lao PDR since 1990 are 14,400 people, an increase of 7% compared to 1950 - 1959 (WTO). This statistic shows a reality that makes the Lao State seek ways to manage tourism activities and must recognize tourism as the most important industry in the country's economic development during that period.
3.1.5. Period from 1992 to 2000
At this stage, the State has expanded its encouragement for business, especially the tourism industry and other related service businesses, which have developed and increased significantly such as: Travel companies, hotels, motels, restaurants, transportation... In response to the increase in the number of hotels and motels, in order for the State to properly manage the hotel and motel business to suit the new situation, the Ministry of Trade and Tourism issued Regulation No. 219/BTM-DL, dated May 5, 1992 on the management of hotel and motel business, according to Chapter III, Article 7 on conditions.