Ventiane is “booming”

The economy of Laos' sleepy capital Vientiane grew 12 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, media reports said Monday.

Vientiane's gross domestic product between October 1 and June 30 reached 21,437 billion kip (US2.75 billion dollars), up 12 percent compared with the same period in 2009-10, according to the city's planning and investment department.

The city of 800,000 which has seemingly missed the infrastructure explosions of other South-East Asian capitals over the past three decades, welcomed 948,000 tourists in the nine-month period, primarily from Thailand, generating $85 million in spending, the Vientiane Times reported.

During the same period, authorities approved 7,300 billion kip ($936 million) worth of investment projects, an 84 percent increase compared to the same period the previous year.