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Pak Beng Scenic Hub of Northern Laos

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Pak Beng Scenic Hub of Northern Laos Pak Beng Scenic Hub of Northern Laos A Tourism Development Strategy and Action Plan for Pak Beng District 2011-2015 Draft Prepared by Jim Johnston, International Ecotourism Planner ADB-GMS Sustainable Tourism Development Project in Lao PDR 0 Lao National Tourism Authority September 2010 1 Pak Beng Tourism Strategy 2011 to 2015. Background and Purpose of Strategy. Oudomxay Province is known as the “Heart of Northern Laos” because of it’s position as being the crossroads province for both road-based and water-based travel for the provinces north of Luang Prabang. Pak Beng District is one of three districts to be designated as tourism focal district in Oudomxay Province. The Pak Beng District has a population of more than 28,000 people; three main ethnic groups make up this population, they are Khmu, Hmong, and Lao Loum. 99.36% of the land is classified as mountains. Aims: The Provincial Tourism Department has instigated this strategy in order to provide direction for future tourism development in the district that will; 1. Enhance current tourism 2. Prepare for taking advantage of new tourism opportunities, particularly those opened up by the construction of the Mekong bridge linking Nan (Thailand) – Oudomxay (Lao PDR) – Dien Bien Phu (Vietnam) Objectives: As stated in the District’s 5-year Socio-economic Plan (2009)1, the District’s current tourism objectives are as follows; 1. Improve current tourism facilities while maintaining their natural assets, and service both the domestic and international tourism markets through encouraging private sector investment. 2. Building and improving basic infrastructure/tourism facilities such as; Hotel, Guesthouses, Resort, and Restaurant/Cafes. 3. Make nature-based tourism products, such as; rafting, caving, trekking, cultural villages and other sites of interest. 4. Promote tourism through improved tourism information access, night market and cultural festivals. 5. Make additional tourism activities in the town to provide incentives for visitors to stay longer than the normal current stay of one night. 6. Improve the Tourism Association for the management, service standards, regulations, and security standards. 1 Tourism Targets as stated in “5 year Socio-economic Development Report for 2005-2009 and Direction Plan for 2010 to 2014 (XIth District Party Congress, Pak Beng District: 2009) 2 This strategy has also adopted the above objectives, and has used them as subject headings of various activities that could be incorporated into a workplan to contribute to the above District’s tourism objectives. Tourism Values of Pak Beng: The strengths of Pak Beng for tourism are; 1. Beautiful views of mountains. Surrounded by many mountains gives Pak Beng an atmosphere that interesting places may be hidden in valleys as yet “undiscovered” by the adventurer. 2. Mekong river frontage. Pak Beng is elevated above the Mekong providing a dramatic view from most guesthouse verandahs and restaurant windows. Visitors can observe local people’s activities on the river, the coming and going of boats, and the flow of one of the world’s great rivers, while sitting at a restaurant table. Current Tourism Situation In the last decade, Pak Beng has rapidly expanded as a tourist town, because it is a staging point in the 2 day boat trip between Luang Prabang and Houei Xai. Tourists who have travelled to the popular Thai tourism Provinces of Chiangmai and Chiang Rai have extended their trips to a circuit that crosses the Mekong River at Chiang Khong to Lao PDR at Houei Xai, Bokeo Province. Upon arrival at Houei Xai most tourists then travel by boat immediately, their destination generally being Luang Prabang. Pak Beng is about halfway between Houei Xai and Luang Prabang and is the point to sleep the night. Restaurants and Guesthouses have increased in response to the increasing tourism demand, however on rare occasions all accommodation is filled leaving no more vacancies. A road from Pak Beng to Oudomxay has presented an alternative route, however the boat transport remains by far the most popular, and has become an institution amongst western backpackers, and is also popular with a growing number of Thai backpackers. For tourists coming from Chiang Rai, Pak Beng is generally the first night stayed in Laos. For those coming up the river from Luang Prabang, it is generally the last night spent in Laos. For many tourists, the first night in Laos may mean that they did not have time to change currency at Houei Xai before travelling by boat. So tourists would be unfamiliar with the value of Lao currency, therefore may be hesitant to pay for anything more than the basics of food and accommodation until they gain confidence in a new country and new currency (although Thai Baht is often used). The perception that Pak Beng is fairly isolated (when compared to their last few nights in Thailand) may also add to a feeling of being trapped without many travel alternatives, therefore unwilling to freely spend money. Currently tourism in Pak Beng accounts for about 65% of all tourism in Oudomxay. This amounts to a current visitation of about 70000 people annually. 3 The estimated arrivals in Pak Beng are represented on the following graph. Estimated Visitors to Pak Beng (65% of Province) 80000 60000 40000 20000 Estimated Visitors to Pak Beng (65% of 0 Amount of Arivals Province) 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Year Estimated Visitors to Oudomxay Province Visitors to Visitors to Pak 120000 Oudomxay Beng (65% 0f 100000 Year Province Province totals) 80000 2003 23911 15542 60000 2004 54695 35552 40000 Visitors to Oudomxai 2005 54721 35569 20000 Province 2006 43400 28210 0 2007 76970 50031 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2008 101761 66145 Year muto rvl to Province Amount of Arivals 2009 107419 69822 Table of Visitor Arrivals to Oudomxay Graph of Visitor Arrivals to Oudomxay Province (2003-2009). Province (2003-2009) with estimated arrivals to Pak Beng. 4 Accommodation in Pak Beng Total Total Monthly Accommodation in Month Total Lao Foriegn Beds Nov-08 297 4908 5205 Guesthouses, Pak Beng Dec-08 146 4579 4725 Jan-09 311 5490 5801 7000 Feb-09 212 4468 4680 6000 Mar-09 194 3051 3245 5000 Apr-09 297 2534 2831 May-09 No Info No Info No Info 4000 Jun-09 No Info No Info No Info 3000 Guests Jul-09 No Info No Info No Info 2000 Total Foriegn Aug-09 428 2704 3132 Sep-09 176 3016 3192 1000 Total Lao Oct-09 114 2976 3090 0 Nov-09 163 5184 5347 08 09 09 09 09 10 09 10 08 09 09 09 10 10 09 10 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dec-09 134 3237 3371 - - Jan Jan Oct Apr Apr Feb Sep Feb Dec Dec Aug Nov Nov No Info No Info No Info Mar Mar Jan-10 293 4632 4925 May Feb-10 62 2399 2461 Month & Year Mar-10 44 1244 1288 Apr-10 85 1005 1090 May-10 224 1244 1468 Table: Monthly Accommodation in Graph: Monthly Accommodation in Pak Beng between November 2008 to Pak Beng between November 2008 May 2010 (excluding May to July 2009). to May 2010. Generally, the monthly accommodation statistics show a similar pattern of tourism arrivals as all parts of the country. That is; high season between November and February. However, statistics from the last year (2009-2010) have highlighted two weaknesses in the tourism demand in Pak Beng. The recent statistics illustrate that tourism in February to May 2010 dramatically reduced due to the following; 1. Political unrest in Thailand 2. Record low levels of water in the Mekong The political unrest in Thailand certainly had a dramatic effect on arrivals to Thailand, and since most of the tourists passing through Pak Beng either enter from Chiang Khong (Thailand) or leave through Chiang Khong and Chiang Rai the statistics from that period (February to May 2010) show a very low accommodation rate, and underline the link that Pak Beng tourism has to Thailand. The record low level of water in the Mekong during March to May 2010 meant that boat travel was not possible during some of that time, so the few tourists that wanted to travel by boat either changed plans, and went to Luang Prabang via Luang Namtha, or still slept in Pak Beng by travelling by local land transport across the mountainous road from Houei Xai via Pha-Oudom District, Bokeo Province, then taking the boat from Pak Beng to Luang Prabang the next day. Unfortunately, the cause of the low water is not understood. Some possibilities may be the filling of new hydro-electric dams in the Mekong catchment in China, or general drought, or an unusual volume of water held in ice and snow in the upper reaches of Tibet. It is premature to think that the level of the 5 water will continue at such a low level during those months each year into the future. Therefore this strategy will assume the usual year-round boating conditions along the Mekong. Existing Tourism Products and Markets Currently, almost all the tourists in Pak Beng arrive by boat. Generally, visitors start to arrive in Pak Beng by boat at about 4:00PM onwards, until sunset, and leave at about 8:30 to 10:00AM the next morning. The basic tourism products are accommodation and food. In recent years, electricity is supplied for 24 hours per day. This means that greater opportunity to extend trading into the night to the prescribed 11:30PM closing hours exists. Interestingly, most restaurants close well before this time. This may be because tourists are often tired from sitting in the boats for most of the day. In-fact, most of the tourist feedback from internet blogs indicates that they arrive in Pak Beng very tired from the day’s travelling.
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