Historic Laotian town grapples with tourism boom

The UNESCO World Heritage site Laos' Luang Prabang province welcomed almost 800,000 visitors in the first nine months of last year, with state media reporting the province hopes to attract almost three million by the end of 2024.
Luang Prabang is a popular tourist destination for both domestic and foreign visitors, offering a variety of natural, historical, and cultural attractions.
Kelly de Pree, Dutch Tourist said "I really like the green and lush surroundings, all the temples, very nice, and you can find a lot of quiet places. On the main street there are a lot of tourists, but here (a temple in the alley) is very quiet and there are a lot of places like this where you can sit around in quiet and enjoy the temples."
The mountainous Luang Prabang province has 228 officially designated tourist sites, of which 111 are nature-based, 78 are of cultural heritage, and 39 have historical buildings.