Background
The three governments of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam agreed to upgrade trilateral tourism coordination to the ministerial level by creating a formal cooperation mechanism to coordinate joint tourism policy and implementation. The Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Tourism Ministers’ Cooperation Mechanism is a formal trilateral ministerial forum intended to coordinate tourism policy, promotion, and connectivity among the three countries.
The three parties also approved a Joint Action Plan on CLV Tourism Cooperation for 2026–2028 that sets six priority sectors. The Joint Action Plan on CLV Tourism Cooperation 2026–2028 identifies six priority sectors: development and connection of joint tourism products; travel facilitation and transport connectivity; joint promotion and branding under the vision “One journey, three destinations”; official capacity building; sustainable tourism development; and cooperation with international partners.
Key Developments
On 26 August 2026 in Ho Chi Minh City, Cambodia’s Minister of Tourism Huot Hak led the Cambodian delegation to the first-ever CLV Tourism Ministers’ Meeting held alongside ITE-HCMC 2026. The meeting formally established the ministerial cooperation mechanism and adopted a trilateral action plan for 2026–2028, endorsing the shared branding concept “One journey, three destinations” and approving plans for joint tour packages and coordinated promotion.
Policy Context
The adopted action plan focuses on practical measures that intersect tourism policy and cross-border travel arrangements, including travel facilitation measures and improvements to transport connectivity among the three countries. Joint promotion and product-connection efforts in the plan aim to align destination marketing and tour-package development across Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam to increase visitor flows and support tourism-related trade and investment links.
Institutional Role
The Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia will act as a national lead coordinating the implementation of the CLV ministerial mechanism together with counterpart ministries in Laos and Vietnam. The initiative is to be pursued with involvement from the private sector and international partners, reflecting the ministers’ agreement to combine public-sector coordination with market-facing promotion and capacity-building activities.
