AFP

NAM HA (LAOS) IN a hilltribe settlement in the forest of northern Laos, an old man sits on the ground weaving a basket while another villager hangs out her washing to dry.

It is a scene of everyday life for the Akha communities living in the Nam Ha Protected Area, where elephants, gibbons and leopards roam among giant bamboo near villages perched on the banks of a tributary of the Mekong river.

The 220,000-hectare (544,000-acre) national park is at the forefront of efforts by the landlocked, impoverished nation to become a leading eco-tourism destination — an effort that appears to be paying off.

Lured by the wild beauty and cultural riches of the numerous ethnic minorities, almost 250,000 tourists visited northwest Luang Namtha province in 2010, up from 20,000 in 1999, according to the Laos tourism administration.

“Compared to Thailand it is definitely a lot more authentic, better run and the fact that we were just a small group, just four people, makes it a much more genuine experience,” said 28-year-old British tourist Joe Park.

“We perhaps leave less of a footprint and not too much of our own culture in the area, so I think it was fantastic,” he said during a trek inside the park.

While some ethnic villagers, such as the Lanten, still wear their indigo traditional clothes, they make no particular effort to dress up for tourists and go about their normal lives as much as possible when they come.

It is the fruit of years of planning by the Communist nation to attract more foreign visitors while preserving its cultural heritage.

After opening up to foreign visitors in the 1990s, Laos “quickly saw that being a country in the middle of the Mekong region, with many visitors going to the surrounding countries, that it would be a good opportunity to develop the economy and create local jobs,” said Steven Schipani, who was involved in the Nam Ha ecotourism project as a UN advisor.

“But they were also aware that tourism, if not properly managed, can cause a lot of negative impacts,” added the American, who is now in charge of the Asian Development Bank’s Southeast Asia tourism programme.

The Laotian authorities, who have created 20 national parks covering 14 percent of the country, attempted to manage the explosion in tourism so as to avoid queues of coaches or rows of concrete hotels.

“Laos will become a world renowned destination specialising in forms of sustainable tourism that, through partnership and cooperation, benefits natural and cultural heritage conservation and local socio-economic development, and spreads knowledge of Laos’ unique cultural heritage around the world,” proclaims the state run website www.ecotourismlaos.com.