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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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