The National Tourism Authority of the Lao PDR (NTA) is implementing the Nam Ha Ecotourism Project in Luang Namtha Province, with cooperation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Protected Areas and Watershed Management and the Ministry of Information and Culture. The UNESCO Office of the Regional Advisor for Culture in Asia and the Pacific is the executing agency, providing technical assistance and monitoring. The project is funded by grants from the Government of New Zealand and the International Finance Corporation.
The project realizes that as a development activity, tourism, and especially cultural and nature tourism can both assist economic development, and stimulate conservation of the cultural and natural assets that make developing countries attractive to international tourists. Because like much of Laos, Luang Namtha possesses a pristine natural environment and rich cultural heritage, the Lao Authorities are actively promoting these assets in an effort to attract visitors. The Nam Ha Project addresses the urgent need to preserve the regions natural and cultural heritage and evaluate the potential for community-based, sustainable cultural and ecotourism in and around the Nam Ha National Biodiversity Conservation Area (Nam Ha NBCA). The components of the Nam Ha Project include creating a tourism development plan that uses tourism as a tool for culturally appropriate rural development; ensures that tourism contributes in a positive way to conservation of the areas natural heritage; protects the cultural rights of affected indigenous peoples through community participation and active management of tourism development; provides members of local communities with the training and skills relative to the tourism industry, and finally, stimulates private sector investment vested in conservation and enhancement of the asset base which supports nature and cultural tourism.