Xayaboury in Laos to host elephant festival
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Laos' Xayaboury district is expecting a major boost to its fledgling tourism industry next month when the provincial capital hosts the annual Elephant Festival.
Xayaboury district Governor Bounphak Inthapanya said district authorities were expecting visitors to flock to the small town for the popular festival, which will take place from February 17-19.
“The festival will be one of the biggest events in the province this year,” she said in an interview with the Vientiane Times recently. Provincial authorities hope the event will bring good business to local hotels and guest houses.
Bounphak said the owners of hotels, guesthouses and restaurants in the provincial capital had been improving their services, hoping to provide the best hospitality for local and foreign visitors.
“We have provided them with training opportunities so they can offer good service,” she said. The district has enlisted the help of local families who will open up their homes to visitors in the event that all hotels and guesthouses are booked out.
Bounphak said the provincial authorities had invited businesspeople from neighbouring provinces to attend the market fair, which is part of the festival. This will provide them with a valuable opportunity to exhibit and sell their products.
The provincial authorities have invested significantly in improvements to public infrastructure, such as repairing main roads, so the district is well prepared to host the festival.
The authorities have provided more than 1 billion Laotian kip (Bt3.77 million) for the festival this year, to be spent on the elephant contest and elephant shows. More than 60 elephants and their mahouts from around the province are expected to participate. Other attractions will be cultural performances and a sound and light show, she said.
The provincial authorities have decided to hold the festival in Xayaboury district every year after experiencing difficulties in previous years when staging the event in other districts. The festival has previously been held in Hongsa and Paklai districts.
The Elephant Festival was initiated by the conservation group ElefantAsia in 2007, and has been held in Xayaboury province every year since then.
This will be the first year the festival is not organised by ElefantAsia, who have handed over the event to the local authorities. Xayaboury, which is home to the largest population of elephants in Laos, sees the festival not only as a source of revenue but also a major boost to the protection of elephants, which are now in grave danger of extinction in Laos.
In the past, elephants were used to haul logs in forests. Now that the government has significantly reduced logging, many elephant owners have sold their animals to neighbouring countries, meaning fewer of these magnificent specimens are to be found roaming the forests of Laos.
