Managing CBET in Luang Namtha villages
Luang Namtha is widely recognized as one of the
leading sustainable tourism destinations in Lao PDR.
Cited in the National Growth and Poverty Alleviation
Strategy and National Biodiversity Strategy and Action
Plan for its success in merging poverty alleviation and
natural resource conservation, the CBET model
developed by the UNESCO/LNTA Nam Ha Ecotourism
Project between 1999-2007 is the standard by which
national tourism development initiatives are
measured against. Also recognized internationally for
its gains in the fight against poverty and sustainable
use of biodiversity, the Nam Ha Project won several
international awards including the 2001 United
Nations Development Award, a British Airways
Tourism for Tomorrow Award, and was a finalist for
the United Nations Development Program’s Equator
Award in 2006.
Ecotourism as it is practiced in Luang Namtha arguably
meets all of criteria of the IUCN, most notably by
creating economic and employment opportunities for
local people while at the same time ensuring that
tourism activities contribute to natural and cultural
heritage protection. Factors enhancing the
sustainability of tourism in Luang Namtha include
extensive information and education campaigns about
ecotourism and forms of sustainable tourism targeted
at policy makers, the private sector and local
communities. As a result of these campaigns local
leaders have the knowledge and information to make
enabling policy and create regulations that protect the
cultural and natural resources that underpin the
province’s growing and profitable ecotourism sector.
Since the introduction of the first CBET programs by
the Nam Ha Project in 1999, there are now more than
141 established tour circuits, involving some 189
communities. Participating communities that have
been prepared to provide services to tourists as part
of the Nam Ha project’s CBET development
methodology that involves heavy investments in
awareness raising and skills training generally report
high levels of satisfaction with the way tourism
operates in their communities. This is a sharp contrast
to areas such as Vang Vieng in Vientiane Province or
Muang Ngoi is Luang Prabang Province, where large
numbers of tourists invaded before local people were
prepared to avoid or mitigate the negative social and
environmental impacts that tourism can induce.
Residents in Vang Vieng and Meuang Ngoi report an
increasing number of conflicts between local business
owners, an increase in petty theft and drug abuse
among youth, too many visitors and environmental
problems such as water pollution and excess trash.