It was with great sadness that I read about the disappearance of Sompawn Khantisouk who was on his way to an appointment with Laos police in January. Sompawn (Pawn) is one of the founders of The Boat Landing Guesthouse in Laos and has been fundamental in driving the ecotourism movement forward in Laos.
The Boat Landing was the first ecolodge in Laos and opened in December 1999. In partnership with an ecotourism operator they operate community-based trekking, kayaking and mountain-bike tours into the Nam Ha National Protected area, 222,400 hectares of land ranging from the lowlands of the Luang Namtha Plain to 2,000m peaks.
Tourism in Laos began to grow in the early 1990’s when the Lao People’s Democratic Republic opened its doors to the western world. In 1991 an American from Colorado, Bill Tuffin, came to Luang Namtha Province to set up a primary health care project supported by the French NGO Enfants et Developement. Bill got to know Pawn who was then at high school, later going on to study architectural drawing. Bill could see the huge potential for the development of community based tourism as more and more tourist were drawn to the remote beauty of rural Laos where the local people had little idea of how to facilitate the tourists needs.
The Boat Landing was Bill and Pawn’s answer to this problem. A remote guesthouse built in the local style from local materials and employing local people to cater for the growing influx of backpackers keen to explore the culture and landscape of Luang Namtha. As well as being Green Globe certified the lodge was highly commended in the 2005 First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards – organised by responsibletravel.com. This is testimony to the huge achievements that Bill and Pawn have made not only in setting up a pioneering ecolodge but also in pushing forward the Responsible Tourism movement in Laos.
Laos is a country affected by conflicting interests. There are strong commercial forces at work looking to tap as many of the country’s rich natural resources as possible. Clear cutting of rainforests, mining and the development of hydro-electric dams are all threatening to destroy the things which make Laos such an attraction to international visitors.
At the same time the government of Laos has recognized that well managed tourism can provide an alternative means of development. The Laos National Tourism Authority has created Ecotourism Laos which was the winner of Planetea’s 2007 Ecotourism Spotlight Award (a testament to its excellent content). This site is a credit to the government’s commitment to Responsible Tourism and support of Community Based Tourism through the empowerment of local people.
Here at responsibletravel.com we will continue to promote enterprises like the Boat Landing in order to demonstrate that responsible tourism can provide a means of supporting local communities and generating foreign income without damaging the nature and culture of a country. Finally we would encourage the Lao government to provide support and safe environment for ecotourism operators to work.
Our thoughts go out to Pawn and his family and hope that he is found soon so that he can continue to develop responsible tourism in Laos.
