VietNamNet Bridge, 19/01/2007
The new Second Friendship, Bridge linking Thailand and Laos has provided for a swell of tourists entering Vietnam on the Trans-Asia Highway.
The new bridge across the Mekong River has connected the central coast of Vietnam with Thailand via the Trans-Asia Highway, which runs from central Vietnam through Laos and Thailand to Myanmar.
Between 1999-2003, only 1,300 Thai visitors crossed into Vietnam at the highway's Lao Bao border gate in the central province of Quang Tri.
But thanks to the bridge's opening on December 20, more than 1,500 Thai tourists entered Vietnam via Lao Bao on the first day of the new year (January 1, 2007), according to the provincial tourism authority.
Recent policies to waive visas between Thailand, Laos and Vietnam have also supported the boom.
The bridge is part of the Trans-Asia highway or the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) initiative which aims to boost trade, tourism and transportation along the highway.
