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The picturesque landscape and tranquil atmosphere of laid-back Laos offers an attractive setting for off-road caravans and car-testing programmes.

Isuzu, one of Thailand's largest vendors of SUVs and 4WD pick-ups, was a pioneer in organising car test-drives in Indochina. It launched the first 'Isuzu SUV caravan to Cambodia' in April 1999, followed by a 'Thailand-Laos-Vietnam' expedition in 2000.

Another leading 4WD pick-up manufacturer, Ford, said it was planning to arrange similar caravans to Laos.

Toyota Motor Thailand held its first test-drive trip to Angkor Wat, Cambodia in September 2002. It also had a 4WD caravan to southern Laos in August 2003. That three-day expedition came on the heels of successful overland caravan trips to Indochina organised by the Toyota Offroader Club, which currently has around 1,500 members.

"Expanding car-test treks to neighbouring countries give us an opportunity to prove that our four-wheel drive vehicles perform well in any road or geographical condition,'' said Kitti Simapornchai, general manager of Toyota's commercial-vehicle marketing department, adding that trips to countries like Laos and Cambodia also help boost public awareness of the firm in the region.

"In a bid to make the activity more educational for motoring journalists, we combine the motoring mission with cultural and natural tourism,'' Kitti said.

But the downside, according to Songyos Waewhong, a political scientist from Silapakorn University, is that many Thai tourists still make crude jokes about Laos being an underdeveloped nation.

"Most Thais visit Laos and Cambodia with the strong feeling that they come from a superior country. They come across more like those Western tourists who always act as if they are more civilised than Thais,'' said Songyos, a special guide for the trip to southern Laos in August 2003.

In light of this pervasive attitude, Songyos continued, these convoys of expensive SUVs and 4WDs — symbols of capitalism and middle-class wealth — not only do little to boost bilateral understanding but may actually end up making the gap between the peoples of the two countries more pronounced.

Songyos noted that Laos had opened up to foreign visitors quite rapidly compared to Vietnam, which is more wary about the adverse impacts of the tourism industry than other countries in the lower Mekong region. For instance, he said, Vietnam's embargo on right-hand drive vehicles was an attempt to protect itself against an excessive influx of tourists. The ban would also force visitors to spend more money in the country since they would have to shell money out for transportation locally.

Supachai Singhyabutr, a lecturer at Mahasarakham University's Faculty of Fine Arts who has conducted research on the southern provinces of Laos, said that the Vientiane authorities were under more pressure to embrace tourism, particularly since Thailand came up with the idea of promoting Laos as an alternative destination for its own tourists.

"These days, most tourists use Thailand as a base for their Indochina overland excursions. They stay in Thailand and buy Indochina package tours from Thai tour agencies. This, however, means that a large portion of the tourism revenue goes to Bangkok, not Laos,'' Supachai said.

After exploiting the northern provinces of Laos, including the World Heritage city of Luang Prabang, tourists have now turned their attention to nature-based excursions in southern Laos, he went on. "It's very likely that off-road caravans will soon be wading through inaccessible provinces, like Attapeu and Sekong, to explore the lush green forests and ethnic culture there.''

Meanwhile, Vichit Chadtakul, chief of the Champasak Tourism Office, gave a qualified welcome to caravan-style travel.

He conceded that it brought in "quality tourists'' who spend more money than backpackers. "However, people in the southern provinces prefer more serene types of tourist activity; they're not fond of noisy off-road caravans. A desirable excursion would be one that would allow Thai tourists to interact with the locals, giving each an opportunity to learn from the other,'' Vichit said, adding that the biggest 4WD caravan he has come across comprised around 75 vehicles.

The Lao government is busy improving existing tourist sites plus developing adventure and ecotourism in some national biodiversity-conservation areas, Vichit added. Road construction is also underway to improve transport links with Vietnam and Cambodia and facilitate more cross-country tourism.

According to Diethelm Travel's 2002 tourism review, Laos is emerging as a major competitor to Cambodia. In 2002, Laos catered to 735,660 visitors, of which 417,320 came over the Friendship Bridge with Thailand.

Trans Asia Route managing director Kitti Nilthanom, a Toyota caravan leader, has this to say: "Thai tourists like to travel in countries that are less developed than theirs, to see poor people and their pitiable living conditions. My customers say that self-drive caravans to Malaysia and Singapore are pretty boring because those countries are too civilised and their highways too smooth and convenient.'' — Kultida Samabuddhi

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