ABSTRACT
‘Devoutly Buddhist and largely undeveloped’. So begins the description of Laos on the website of Travel Indochina, one of the largest tour operators in mainland Southeast Asia (Travel Indochina n.d.). Tourists, particularly eco-tourists and other ‘alternative’ tourists, are attracted to Laos with the double promise of having an authentic experience of pristine lands inhabited by pristine people while contributing philanthropically to the same people’s well-being and development. ‘A journey into Laos is a journey into an Asia long lost’, claims the same website.
