Vang Vieng, Lao PDR

Green Discovery Laos’ Inthy Deuansavanh: “Ecotourism can be one of the highlights for Lao PDR”

When Inthy Deuansavanh opened Khop Chai Deu Restaurant at his family’s Vientiane residence in 1998, he had no idea he was laying the cornerstone for an ecotourism empire in Lao PDR. Inthy was literally the first on the scene: he developed tourist attractions and infrastructure from scratch in remote places like Vang Vieng, Xayaboury and Kammouane.

Lao PDR ecotourism pioneer Inthy Deuansavanh. Image courtesy of the Inthira Group

Now, as head of Inthira Group, Inthy remains a fervent evangelist of Lao PDR’s potential as an adventure travel and ecotourism destination. He’s even walking the talk: mandating sustainable practices in his properties, tapping local communities for services and supplies, and working with multiple stakeholders to realize the full potential of far-flung but promising Lao PDR tourist destinations.

We talked to him to get the lay of the land in Lao PDR: the present and future of sustainable adventure travel in his homeland, and the challenges he faces to realize his dream.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You were a pioneer of Lao PDR ecotourism, the first to create travel experiences around the Lao countryside. When you were starting out, did you already foresee that Lao PDR had a lot of promise in terms of ecotourism?

When I opened Khop Chai Deu restaurant, we were able to talk to many tourists. I found out that there’s a big potential for Laos in terms of ecotourism – tourism based in nature, which Laos has so much to offer.

It required a lot of work – working with the government to convince them, to help them understand what you want to do, and also secure investment because we are not relying on any existing attractions! We pretty much-built everything: we did the surveys, trained local people, and created the products – it was very challenging in the beginning. But after more than 20 years, we’re seeing good results.

What are the companies under your Inthira Group today, and how have they been able to “walk the talk” on sustainability?

At Inthira Group, we have hotels, we have restaurants, and we have Green Discovery Laos. Green Discovery is one of the highlights because we offer tours in the national parks and other beautiful landscapes.

The company has a very strong concept: we offer nature activities, where we work very closely with the local people and also promote ecotourism. We do conservation work, going green in our other businesses like restaurants and hotels as well.

We are applying for Travelife certification to make sure that all our businesses – not only Green Discovery, but hotels and restaurants too – are also promoting conservation, reducing use of plastic and energy. So basically, we want to be responsible.

Can you name specific tourism developments in Lao PDR that are benefiting from good ecotourism practices?

For good ecotourism practice, we can cite the Gibbon Experience, where local villages used to rely on hunting and logging, cutting the forests. Now the project employs more than 20% of the local population; they enjoy more benefits than what they used to have while helping to protect and preserve the nature around the area, reducing the number of people hunting and cutting down trees.

At Green Discovery Laos, the newest project we’re doing now is the Rock Viewpoint, which opened three months before COVID. Now, you see much more wildlife and the local people in the Phou Hin Boun National Protected Area. We directly employ locals in terms of conservation and also bring them into other sectors like agriculture. We also hire locals to keep bees and produce honey as well.

Another one is also the Elephant Conservation Center in Xayaboury which we’re working on as a joint venture with a French team. We started it up with one elephant in 2001. Now we have more than 30 elephants in our conservation center.

The Elephant Festival is restarting in Xayaboury this year. Is your company participating?

Actually, our company created this festival. Nearly 20 years ago, Sebastien Duffillot, my partner, introduced this festival into the province. The purpose is to promote Lao elephants because the elephants have a big challenge.

After the country stopped timber logging, most of the elephants now have no jobs. So elephant has been introduced into tourism; a lot of companies use them for riding and so on. I think tourism for elephants is much easier compared to logging. But even that is also a challenge, because their tourism activities – riding, elephant circus – it’s not in their nature, you know.

So, we don’t offer elephant riding or elephant circus; our conservation is more on education. We keep the elephant in the jungle area at night. Every day, we bring them back to the place where they have food. They come to socialize, and we take them bathing in the late afternoon. So we bring the tourists through the social area and educate them. We have the elephant clinic, where a specialist doctor will explain about elephant care. There’s also trekking – you have to trek to see them, the place where they have food.

Kayaking in Phou Hin Boun National Protected Area, Lao PDR. Image courtesy of the Inthira Group

Can you tell us a bit more about the Tree Top Explorer, its location and its impact on the local community?

Green Discovery Laos’ Tree Top Explorer was influenced by the Gibbon Experience. It’s based in Paksong, where most of Lao coffee comes from. We’re working in the national park called Dong Hua Sao; the Paksong plateau itself, there are a lot of waterfalls. There are three waterfalls in our area; they’re very, very beautiful. But at the same time, it’s very difficult to get in.

We do a three day package – two days, two nights. There’s a combination between trekking and zipline inside the national park. So you arrive in the middle of the forest, surrounded by the waterfalls, and you stay in the camps between three days. walking around, learning about the nature.

Projects like that have to work very closely with the local communities. What’s your relationship like with the local communities and how do your projects help them?

In Paksong, we’re working with about 100 people from the village, including porters and members of the ranger program, The project provides direct income: they’re employees, they’re guides, they’re cooking staff, porters. We also encourage them to plant vegetables; we support them by buying food that’s available in the village. We set aside fees, $4 per tourist, for funds the village can use for development. And we’re also paying extra money for the national park to hire locals in a ranger program.

Inthira Vang Vieng Hotel. Image courtesy of the Inthira Group

Do you feel now that tourists that the tourism industry is endangering the ecology of Laos, or do you feel that tourism should change in terms of preserving the environment?

We’re working very hard to show other stakeholders that tourism can benefit everyone. But at the same time, it can also go very wrong in a short time, without a good plan, management, or law enforcement.

For example, there’s a lot of development in Vang Vieng because of the demand. But I think we are lacking in terms of law enforcement, so there’s a big conflict between party tourists and the tourists who want to relax. There’s loud music late at night, disturbing the guests. Without proper management, tourism benefits will be much less than what we should have.

Are new infrastructure developments also getting in the way of sustainable ecotourism in Lao PDR? Are any of your own projects affected?

Our Treetop Experience is not very far from a new hydro project. We just heard that the dam project might relocate the water from the waterfall to the dam, to produce electricity. If that happened, it’s going to be very bad, not only for us but for the national park itself, because that means the national park will lack water. And of course, it’s going to change the ecosystem.

We’re meeting with them already. We’re signing an agreement that they’re only going to relocate the water during the rainy season when there’s enough water for everyone. We don’t know yet if they’re going to follow that – it’s very challenging because I think the hydro project invested a lot of money, and I know that they are very well connected.

Inthy Deuansavanh. Image courtesy of the Inthira Group

What are your future projects or expansions that you could share with us?

We are actually now developing a protected forest very close to Vientiane, one of the last forests in Vientiane municipality. It’s going to be more visible to local tourists. And I think it’s a good place for education in terms of ecotourism and awareness for the younger generation about the importance of nature. This one, we expect to open this year.

We are also now developing activities in the 4,000 Islands, Si Phan Don. We are going to introduce something new and exciting for the area, more activities. We’re going to build a suspension bridge so you can walk around the island and go sightseeing around the waterfall. We’re also going to have some zip lines going around, but we have made sure the design is not disturbing the beauty of the waterfall.

What are the opportunities that you see for the future of ecotourism and sustainable tourism in Laos?

The future is very bright because we have nearly 30 national parks. Compared to the surrounding countries around the region, I think we are quite rich in this area.

We hope the government understands that developing ecotourism can be one of the highlights for Laos, But it’s also a challenge because developing tourism needs a lot of work. It’s easier to invest in hydropower or mining because you can see very clear results immediately. In terms of tourism, it takes time: you need a good plan, good know-how, and investment. But I believe if you do it right, ecotourism can be the main thing for Laos.

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