Effects of Tourism
Due to the recent influx of backpackers, the natives of Vang Vieng have seen a drastic change in their community. In recent years, Vang Vieng has become a milestone stop along the South East Asia backpacker tour and the main street has many guest houses, bars, restaurants, internet cafes and tour agencies. There have been worries that the town is in danger of losing its charm as it becomes full of tourists, mushroom shakes and Friends - the US sitcom is shown in many bars.The New Zealand Herald wrote, "If teenagers ruled the world, it might resemble Vang Vieng". Safety measures for the tubing have been described as "non existent" and a mixture of this and heavy drinking has seen tourists drown. It was reported that 22 tourists died in the river in 2011.
The Laos government is planning to put more controls on the urban sprawl of Vang Vieng, while the Laos National Tourism Administration has "awareness programs" that ask tourists to "respect and strictly follow the rules, regulations, tradition and cultures of the Lao people," while also educating local people to maintain the Lao identity, way of life, tradition and culture and not imitate tourist behaviour. Vang Vieng is known to have a problem with drugs, which are easily accessible to both tourists and local children.
Locals have said that tubing and tourism are destroying the town's culture and encouraging crime among children, while loud music destroy's the area's tranquility. A report into the future of tourism in Vang Vieng found that many budget tubers were "oblivious to, or uncaring about, the types of social, economic and environmental impact they are associated with." A master plan for Vang Vieng notes that local grievances include pollution, inappropriate behaviour of tourists and environmental damage.
Brett Dakin, the author of Another Quiet American, a chronicle of two years in Laos working for the tourist authority, said, "Each time a young Australian woman strolls down the street in a bikini, a bearded American smokes a joint on a guesthouse terrace, or a group of Koreans tumbles drunkenly out of a restaurant, it saps a little more of the essence of a town like Vang Vieng.".
Read more about this topic: Vang Vieng
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