Laos Opens Fast-Track Service for Chinese Travelers

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From The Diplomat

Laos will launch a fast-track immigration service for travelers from China beginning on November 1, relaxing controls at the country’s main border crossing, which was previously sealed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Lao Deputy Minister of Health Phouthone Meaungpak announced this week that the two countries have brokered an agreement between whereby Chinese nationals from COVID-19-free provinces will be permitted to enter Laos. According to a report by Radio Free Asia, travelers will be required to test negative for the disease and self-quarantine for 14 days within China. They will then have to quarantine for 48 hours on arrival in Laos.

The fast-track service will be confined to the Boten border gate on the border between Luang Namtha province in Laos and China’s Yunnan province. Four smaller border crossings, including one on the border with China and three on the border with Thailand, will also be open for the transport of goods. For the time being, Lao nationals will not be allowed to leave the country, except for workers, students and Lao residents with family members living abroad.

he agreement between Laos and China comes as tourism officials in Cambodia announced that they are in discussions about travel bubbles designed to restart tourism to the country, with China figuring as a priority. Specifically, officials discussed the possibility of implementing of a close-loop system of charter flights between Cambodia and China, although the idea is still in its infancy.

The two announcements are relatively minor, but they indicate the extent to which China is likely to figure in the recovery of Southeast Asia’s economies, particularly the region’s tourism industries, as the COVID-19 contagion wanes. Prior to the pandemic, China was the number one source of visitors to Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Singapore, as well as to the Indonesian island of Bali. In addition to China’s proximity and size to the region, China has successfully been able to control the spread of COVID-19, while the United States grapples with a surge in coronavirus infections and European nations including France and Germany have re-entered lockdown in order to control the disease.