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TOPIC: Laos' Luang Prabang to strengthen ecotourism development

khonlao2007

Date: Aug 22, 2007

Laos' Luang Prabang to strengthen ecotourism development

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Laos' Luang Prabang to strengthen ecotourism development

Laos' Luang Prabang province is intended to strengthen developing its ecotourism industry to attract more tourists to the area, Lao newspaper Vientiane Times reported Monday.

The Tourism Department of the province is now drafting an ecotourism development master plan along the Khan river and in the area of the World Heritage Site. The plan will be sent to the government for approval in the next two months, and is expected to start in 2008, using assistance funds from France worth around 2 million U.S. dollars.

The project will include the development of small-scale infrastructure, and train villagers to stop slash-and-burn cultivation. It will also promote the production of village handicrafts, environmental protection at the Sae waterfall, and the local traditional culture for tourists. In addition, it will encourage villagers to increase their agriculture production and sell to business operators who serve tourists, said the paper.

Luang Prabang began developing its ecotourism industry in 2003, and more tourists have been visiting the province ever since. Last year, tourist arrivals reached 200,000 people.

Laos is developing ecotourism as a way to generate incomes for local villagers to reduce their poverty and to facilitate the growth of the local economy. The country started developing community-based ecotourism in 1999. Now it has developed ecotourism sites in eight provinces, with 50 different tour programs.

Tourist arrivals in Laos reached 1.2 million in 2006, of which 40 percent were in relation to ecotourism programs, said the paper.

Source: Xinhua

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