This kind of CBT practice stems from the fact that rural
villagers and the tourism industry depend on each other. While private tour operators
bring tourists to local villagers, they depend on the villagers to provide indigenous
culture, which the tourists are willing to pay for. At the same time, the villagers are
dependent on tour operators to provide training, guidance and marketing, and bring
tourists to them. The villagers generally receive economic benefit from lodging, cooking,
selling food and handicrafts, and acting as tour guides for tourists. Even though the
income generated from tourism does not amount to that much, the villagers in Ban Nalan
decided to use this fund as the basis for small loans to promote and develop handicrafts or
to support other communal activities.