Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
All of the accommodation featured in this tour has been chosen for its responsible environmental policies. In particular the Ban Pako Eco Lodge produces its own energy by the use of a solar cell system. Linen is not washed everyday and the lodge has responsible waste management and recycling facilities.
Similarly, accommodation at the Lao Spirit Resort has environmentally responsible policies. All of the bungalows in the resort are traditional Laotian Style Houses. They were carefully disassembled and rebuilt by experienced Laotian craftsmen on the Lao Spirit property, ensuring these wonderful antique, wooden houses a solid future. To conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions there are no electrical appliances like air conditioning or television at the resort.
The activities and accommodation in this itinerary are designed to benefit local communities in a socially responsible manner. For example, Ban Pako runs its own development program for the surrounding villages. They are helping increase the living standards of the local villagers by funding projects in the communities such as growing vegetables, farming and improving the small schools in the area. As a guest at Ban Pako a percentage of your money goes directly to the village fund.
The Organic Farm is another example of community based tourism. This community development project provides employment, information and training to preserve traditional Lao farming practices. It also sponsors the school bus project, which delivers students from 3 remote villages to the secondary schools in Vang Vieng. This tour involves trekking into some remote villages in Lao. To minimize impact on these communities and to ensure sustainable tourism is implemented a percentage of the funds raised from the treks are used to support the communities visited on a trek. A village fund is also implemented and is aimed at providing financial assistance towards improving the reforestation of the local area. The money collected trough the village fund can be used only for infrastructure such as water supply, irrigation, communication systems and related fields that profit all members of a community.
All clients will be given a copy of our responsible travel guidelines and an information sheet about “what to do” to minimize their environmental impact as well as respecting the traditional customs of the villagers.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
