Thousand caves area waiting for investors
Thousand caves area waiting for investors
Xayaboury provincial authorities are looking for domestic and foreign businesspeople to take out a concession on Phanthamnamthang Caves (the thousand caves area) which is a wonderful tourist site located in the province.
�Xayaboury's Phanthamnamthang cave has nice natural views as does Konglor Cave in Khammuan province. The views of the inner cave are really spectacular and there is water and a long tunnel under the cave which is suitable to take a boat through to admire the stunning views of the caves,� Director of Xayaboury provincial Information, Culture and Tourism Department, Mr Chanthy Simanychan said recently.
The Phanthamnamthang area has been developed with supporting funds from a sustainable ecotourism development project of the Asian Development Bank. The funds were used to undertake several activities under the guidelines of the project, a senior official from Xayaboury provincial Information, Culture and Tourism Department, Ms Saengchanh said.
Phanthamnamthang means the area of a thousand caves, Ms Saengchanh explained, adding that they vary greatly in and shape.
A few major caves have been explored with supporting funds from the sustainable ecotourism development project. They are Chiakhiew, Phee-oy, and Nam Lod caves. These caves were opened for tourists to visit in 2011.
�Local and foreign tourists are keen to visit the caves after they were opened for tourists to visit from 2011 onwards but there are only small numbers of tourists visiting the caves because the road to the cave is quite difficult,� she said.
The Phanthamnamthang area is 43 kilometres from the provincial capital and there are two ways to access it - by car and by boat. The best time to visit the caves is in the dry season. Visitors can travel to the caves via car or a motor boat.
Travelling to the caves in the wet season is not convenient because of the difficult road.
Ms Saengchanh said foreign tourists comment that the caves are really wonderful and that they enjoyed staying at homestays with local people for many days.
The Phanthamnamthang area is located in the four villages of Nathang, Keo, Pakhoung and Huaykaeng. There are many activities for tourists to undertake. Whilst boating through the caves, they can also try their hand at shooting bows and arrows.
Mr Chanthy said that Xayaboury provincial authorities want local and foreign investors to develop the Phanthamnamthang area to be an ecotourism site in the province.
According to Ms Saengchanh, some Chinese businesspeople recently visited the caves area but they haven't come back to talk with the Information, Culture and Tourism Department yet.
Also, local businesspeople visited many times but they were very quiet.
Ms Saengchanh said that Xayaboury provincial authorities, as the government, should develop a better road to the cave to attract local and foreign businesspeople to invest in the thousand caves area in the future.
�The thousand caves area is wonderful and represents one of the largest and most beautiful cave complexes in the country because there are so many caves and many are more beautiful than some of the popular caves in Vangvieng district of Vientiane and Khammuan province,� Ms Saengchanh said.
Local investors need the provincial authorities to build infrastructure in the area because the investment cost of building a new road to the area is quite high, while developing more interesting activities for tourists would also come at an additional cost.
