New opportunities from Lao Bao mountain town

From the last months of the year of Giap Thin 2024 until now, unlike other localities in the province, the weather in Lao Bao town, Huong Hoa district has always been dry and warm. Visitors "looking for sunshine" have praised the land of sunshine and flowers when they took the trouble to travel dozens of kilometers to reach the mountain town. But Lao Bao this season is not only warm and sunny, the border market held every Saturday is also an attractive "playground", inviting tourists. That is the new opportunity of the mountain town.

Lao Bao international border gate - Photo: D.T

1. Objectively speaking, after more than 20 years of formation and development, Lao Bao Special Economic - Commercial Zone has left behind a synchronous and impressive infrastructure; creating a new look for Lao Bao town. However, the special and preferential mechanisms have no longer made Lao Bao desolate and deserted. Many people wonder when Lao Bao will regain its image and stature as in its most prosperous time. That question remains open. And until now, people are still waiting for new opportunities.

Mr. Hoang Huu Cam, Director of Khanh Phuong Hotel in Khe Sanh town, has spent many years traveling back and forth on Route 9 to Laos and Vietnam to do import-export business. Now he has "retired" by returning to do tourism services with a system of hotels and restaurants. According to Mr. Cam, although the special mechanism of the commercial area no longer exists, the potential of Lao Bao is still waiting for new opportunities. Perhaps those thoughts are in line with the trend and sensory ability of a sharp businessman.

Currently, on Route 9 - East-West Economic Corridor, there are 600-700 vehicles passing through Lao Bao International Border Gate every day. This is a small number compared to Vietnam's border gates with Laos, but it also shows the efforts of Quang Tri province in increasing the import and export of goods across the border. The second and third generations (if counting from 1975, people from the lowlands came to the new economic zone in Lao Bao) have also sought the West - to Laos to develop their careers.

Mr. Le Van Tien, a 9x generation Lao Bao citizen, is the second generation since his parents started their career in the new economic zone of Lao Bao. In the story he shared, citizens of Lao Bao origin, no matter where they studied, want to return to their hometown, because this place has all the elements to get rich. Because according to him, the border area with Laos like Lao Bao still has many fields that can be invested in and make profit without having to go far. In recent years, although the market has been difficult, Mr. Tien still sticks to Laos because, according to his argument: there is no more fertile place, if viewed from Lao Bao.

With the shortest route connecting East - West, and being the starting point of the East - West Economic Corridor, Lao Bao has all the elements to solve the output for goods in Laos. Because the agricultural and forestry potential of the Land of a Million Elephants still has a lot of room for young entrepreneurs like him to "run wild".

Among the international border gates bordering Laos, Lao Bao is considered to have the best location in terms of terrain and strategy. If we consider the "belt" of Quang Binh with the shortest distance from the Lao border to the East Sea, but the traffic and infrastructure cannot be equal to Lao Bao. Therefore, it is not by chance that the Government has chosen Lao Bao as one of the 8 key border gate economic zones to focus on investment and development from the state budget in the period of 2021-2025.

Future projections for an economic picture of Lao Bao have many opportunities when the potential and advantages are available and are increasingly receiving attention from the Government. People in the border area are waiting for a "super-special" mechanism on a common cross-border economic-commercial zone Lao Bao-Densavan to be formed in the near future. Currently, the Quang Tri provincial government and ministries and branches are paying attention to the early formation of this economic-commercial zone, creating a breakthrough for Huong Hoa locality as well as Quang Tri province.

Cultural and artistic exchange activities at Lao Bao border market - Photo: YMS

During his visit and work in Quang Tri in mid-October 2024, General Secretary and President To Lam highly appreciated the potential advantages of Quang Tri province and affirmed: "If I were an investor, I would choose Quang Tri". This shows a promising future for a land that has suffered much pain and loss from war like Quang Tri. To concretize the orientations, strategies and handle difficulties for Quang Tri province, in mid-November 2024, the Government Office issued a notice on handling the proposal of the Quang Tri Provincial Party Committee at the working session of General Secretary and President To Lam.

Specifically, the Prime Minister assigned 4 Deputy Prime Ministers to monitor and direct the recommendations and proposals of Quang Tri. In particular, Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son monitored and directed the People's Committee of Quang Tri province to urgently preside over and coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to complete the pilot project of the Lao Bao - Densavan cross-border economic and trade zone model under the direction of the Prime Minister. These very optimistic signals are an indication that the central government is very interested and clearly sees the role and position of Lao Bao in the overall picture of Quang Tri province's economy.

2. Many people compare the advantage of Lao Bao to... being close to Laos. This statement seems like a joke but is very close to reality. Compared to the new economic localities from the plains, the land of Lao Bao is arid, the climate is harsher than in Khe Sanh, Tan Lien, Tan Lap, Tan Hop...

Meanwhile, Lao Bao is located at the end of Highway 9, known as the center but there are not many sanitary communes around so the purchasing power and consumption of goods from the people is very low. So the remaining advantage lies from... the Lao side. The Lao side could be their goods and historical culture.

This is clearly shown in Lao Bao's development strategy in the past 3 years. At the local level, it seems that Lao Bao town leaders have "hit the right spot" when using this advantage as a launching pad for economic and tourism development. In many conversations with Mr. Le Ba Hung, Chairman of Lao Bao town People's Committee, we often mentioned this as a unique advantage of the locality.

The "father" of Lao Bao walking street, Le Ba Hung, often worries about the prosperity of Lao Bao and always asks many questions: Why do we have the border advantage, with a "gold mine" of tourism culture, trade, and services from Laos but not promote effectively? And those concerns, along with his enthusiasm and love for his homeland, have led this leader to create events that create highlights such as Lao Bao walking street, mascots on the occasion of Lunar New Year, Lao Bao border market...

Lao Bao's tourism products in recent times such as walking streets, border markets... have affirmed their advantages when taking advantage of the potential of Laos. Tourists coming to Lao Bao in the above events all satisfy their curiosity about going abroad right in their homeland. Because, from these playgrounds, tourists can approach Lao people, Lao culinary culture without having to go through the trouble of entering Laos.

At the opening session of the Lao Bao border market held at the Lao Bao Trade Center, many visitors from the province, the country and Laos were impressed by the model combining the culture and cuisine of the two countries. Traders from Lao border villages can bring their goods, agricultural and forestry products to approach the Vietnamese people.

On the other hand, the products of ethnic minorities in Huong Hoa and Quang Tri province also have the opportunity to expand their markets and find partners through this market. In addition, visitors can experience the multicultural space of the market to see the richness and diversity of local tourism products.

We often keep in mind the saying of those working in tourism: we must make tourists stay in the locality as long as possible. Events such as walking streets and border markets partly solve that problem. Don’t let tourists come and leave in a hurry, without having the opportunity to spend money.

Decades ago, the tourism product “eating three countries in one day” was formed. That is, having breakfast in Dong Ha city in the morning, transiting through Lao Bao International Border Gate to arrive at Savannakhet city for lunch at noon and at the end of the day going to Mukdahan, Thailand for dinner. With a distance of less than 400 kilometers from Dong Ha to Mukdahan, being able to spend three kinds of money is also a huge advantage of this tourism product. And during that journey, the local OCOP products of Lao Bao and Huong Hoa also have the opportunity to follow tourists throughout the journey.

We can see that the services at Cua Viet and Cua Tung beach resorts are not good, but we cannot deny the "sea craving" of Laotians and some parts of Northeast Thailand. My friend, Keo Say Phu Vong from Pakse town, Laos, once returned to Hue for a university reunion. At Thuan An beach in Hue, he bathed and livestreamed to his friends in Laos about how salty the sea was. And before leaving the beach to return to his hometown via Lao Bao, Phu Vong did not forget to "dig up" a bottle of sea water to show off to his friends.

Telling this story is to reaffirm that Quang Tri tourism in general and Lao Bao in particular still has many opportunities to assert itself. We have the sea, convenient transportation with the shortest route, so why not attract Lao and Thai tourists to our homeland to eat shrimp, eat squid, swim in the sea...

3. In 2025, the communes along Highway 9 from Rao Quan Pass to the Lao Bao border will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the new economic development. Half a century ago, tens of thousands of people came from the lowlands with dreams and ambitions to change their lives to build this land.

In the sense of the new economic migrants at that time, they also recognized the border region with many potentials, promising a future to change their lives, enrich their families and their homeland. And that became a reality when the keyword “Lao Bao” was increasingly becoming a sign of development and prosperity.

People in the border area these past days seem to relive the golden age of Lao Bao. They remember the opening day of Lao Bao Trade Center more than 20 years ago, thousands of people flocked, jostled, stuck in traffic to shop for goods and experience, visit. And now, the Lao Bao border market has just started, attracting thousands of people to visit and shop, as if reawakening a vibrant time.

All that is still ahead. But those things show a new wind, new fortune from this mountain town.

Yen Ma Mountain

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/van-hoi-moi-tu-pho-nui-lao-bao-191772.htm