(KPL) Nam Lik Basin Resort has just been open for around two weeks, and now its rooms are fully booked by tourists who love to experience firsthand natural beauty and privacy.

Nam Lik Basin Resort is located in front of Nam Lik Dam, and about 10 km from the administration centre of Meuang Feuang (Feuang district). It has several islands with green trees and blue water, and watching sunset can give you a captivating moment.

Ms. Vonemanivong Sateun is the first business woman to pioneer raft house business on the Nam Lik River in Feung district, Vientiane Province.

“In the beginning, I wanted to do a raft house business because I love nature, and like peace, and I want to develop this locality while creating jobs for local people,” said Ms. Vonemanivong.

She wants to make her business a model for implementing the government’s policy on sustainable development.

“Three years ago, the Nam Lik was just like a natural river originating from a mountain, traversing through several villages. Local people just used its water for daily consumption. So I had an idea. I wanted to develop this area and turn it into a tourism site. I wanted to generate incomes for the district and create jobs for local people. People can sell goods to visitors,” she said.

Ms. Vonemanivong discussed with her family and decided to buy and lease some land. At first, her business was just open to visitors who want to relax and stay overnight. Soon after, all rooms in her resort were full almost every day.

Since all the rooms were fully booked every day, she realized that she need to expand her raft house business. So far Ms. Vonemanivong has built up to 80 rooms and now she has to give some of her raft houses to her younger sister to take care of.

“Laos will become richer, people will have more incomes and more jobs if we implement and comprehend the Party and Government’s policy on green and sustainable development as Laos has abundant natural resources, and what we need to do is just make some changes to them and they will be more beautiful and more attractive. I mean all nature, forests, rivers are a huge treasury many people are yet to realize and exploit. Of course development has both pros and cons. If the negative side is greater than the positive one, we should stop it,” said Ms. Vonemanivong.

Nam Lik Basin Resort operates nine raft houses, each equipped with household utensils, a refrigerator, air conditioners, food, and drinks.

It is open to both individual travelers and tour groups.

“We focus on peace, cleanliness, friendliness to environment. There are boats in different sizes for those wishing to cruise. Swimming or camping are also possible in the resort. Anyone wishing to visit us must make a reservation in advance,” said Ms. Vonemanivong.

Compared with the past, Meuang Feuang is now totally different. Couple years ago, people were still accustomed to doing farming, animal husbandry, planting rice. Once rice farming season was over they would only enjoy free time at home, but now the people will bring fruits, vegetables, fish, non-timber forest products to sell to tourists along roadsides, and hundreds of youth have jobs in the resort.

The number of tourists visiting Meuang Feuang has increased sharply from 2,000 couple years ago to around 250,000 (accumulated so far this year). The number of tourists for the whole 2023 is expected to reach at least 400,000.

Thais, Europeans, Americans, R. Koreans, and Japanese outnumber visitors from other parts of the world.

KPL