Illegal wildlife shopping sites targeting Chinese tour groups in Laos appear to have expanded despite recent law raids, with investigators identifying up to 35 suspected locations, nearly double the number Mongabay documented in 2025.Investigators say the shops, embedded in low-cost package tours, continue to pressure tourists into buying illegal wildlife products, while some restaurants are reportedly serving highly threatened pangolins to tour groups.Laotian authorities say they’ve seized illegal wildlife products and launched investigations, but conservation groups argue enforcement remains too limited to disrupt the broader network.Experts warn the trade could undermine Laos’s efforts to improve its standing under the global wildlife trade convention, and say a coordinated regional response is needed to prevent the business model from spreading elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
BANGKOK — Schemes funneling Chinese tour groups through illegal wildlife shopping sites in Laos appear to be persisting and even expanding in spite of some law enforcement action by authorities, Mongabay has learned.
In July 2025, a joint Mongabay investigation identified up to 21 illegal wildlife shopping sites embedded in package tours catering to Chinese nationals in the Laotian cites of Luang Prabang and Vientiane. Typically masquerading as cultural centers, restaurants, jewelry stores and the like, or as stores embedded in such venues, the shopping sites typically only showcase their products to Chinese-language tours run by Chinese and Laotian operators, while barring entry to anyone else.
