The creative industry plays a vital role in boosting the cultural tourism sector in the Mekong countries, significantly contributing to their economies. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted this sector. Heritage sites, in particular, are experiencing slower recovery compared to other areas and varies among the countries due to differences in economic development levels and their ability to respond and recover. This has put cultural skills and knowledge at risk, as workers leave in search of new opportunities, taking with them their local artisanal skills and cultural knowledge, potentially leading to the disappearance of traditional heritage and the foundation of cultural knowledge associated with key heritage monuments. Heritage locations are crucial to the tourism sector as they uniquely contribute to the Mekong countries’ cultural identity.

Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are one of the biggest economic contributors in all the Mekong countries. Most of the MSMEs in Mekong countries do not have a clear classification as to which businesses are labeled as creative industries or MSMEs that do not belong to the creative sector. The classification is important due to the creative industries require specific policy design approaches that cannot be generalized to most MSMEs. Hence, creating a regionally agreed taxonomy and definition of creative and cultural industries are priorities particularly for support policies and incentives because of the uniqueness of the businesses. However, MSMEs in the creative sector have not received due attention as an economic vehicle, so there is a lack of inadequate policy support and technical assistance for improving their competitiveness. Furthermore, Most of the Mekong countries, remains nascent in comparison with more developed Intellectual Property (IP) protection regimes and it will take some time before laws governing IP are in full WTO compliance. IP rights play an important role in supporting a thriving creative economy as they protect creativity and control the commercial exploitation of the products of scientific, technological and cultural creation. The ability to develop and use such products is a key driver of economic growth and for international competition, especially for the production and trade of technology-intensive goods and services.

Given the vital role of heritage locations in the tourism sector and their unique contributions to the cultural identity of the Mekong countries, multilateral and regional coordination is essential to address the challenges faced by the cultural and creative industries sector, ensuring their resilience, growth, and sustainability.

To address these issues, the Mekong Institute is implementing a three-year project titled “Promoting Creative Industry for Heritage Tourism Development in the Mekong Region” or (Creative4Mekong) from March 2024- February 2027.  Funded by the Mekong – ROK Cooperation Fund (MKCF), the project focuses on strengthening creative industries, cultural heritage conservation, tourism development for socio-economic recovery with digital platform in selected five World Heritage Sites of Mekong countries namely Siem Reap (Cambodia), Luang Prabang (Laos), Bagan (Myanmar), Ayutthaya (Thailand) and Hue (Viet Nam).