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| cambodia needs the right lift |
| Cambodia is a good example of how a new player can be successful, and it has come a long way since it began to develop the industry seriously about 10 years ago.
Then tourism minister, Mr Veng Sereyvuth, set a target of one million visitor arrivals to the kingdom by the new millennium, double of what Cambodia was achieving, and what some observers thought was overly ambitious considering a lot of infrastructure was still not in place. |
 Cambodia' presence at major trade shows, the formation of an alliance with tourism powerhouse Thailand to twin the two destinations, and other plans such as the staging of the ASEAN Tourism Forum in 2003, scoring a first among the Indochina members of the grouping, paid off.
If not for a couple of crises that followed, Cambodia would have been on track. The timeline may be off, but new tourism minister, Dr Thong Khon, a veteran tourism official, has set out a clear mandate of what the destination needs to do to
move forward.
He has identified improvement in air access, in particular, direct air access from key source markets, as his top priority. And the government’s efforts have paid off with carriers in Japan, China, the Middle East, even Europe, starting or looking at starting flights into the kingdom soon.
International air access is key, but Cambodia also needs to address domestic travel - and ensure it is equipped to provide safe and efficient air services - if its goal to move visitors to other parts of the country apart from Siem Reap, are to be met.
Dr Khon’s predecessor, Mr Lay Prohas, spelled out his plan to prolong length of stay by providing multidestination itineraries which promote the Angkor temples in Siem Reap, but also where visitors do not bypass the capital Phnom Penh, and where they are also able to make a stop at up-and-coming resort Sihanoukville.
The Angkor temples in Siem Reap are undoubtedly the main attraction, but Cambodia has more to offer.
For the intrepid traveller, ecotourism areas can be found in the north-eastern provinces of Ratanakiri, Krajie and Stung Treng. But tour operators will only consider promoting new destinations, and visitors will only be willing to buy a longer stay, if it is safe and easy to move about.
Needless to say, infrastructure at secondary locations - upgraded domestic airports, good road networks, sufficient good quality accommodation, well-trained guides, good service, etc - have to be in place, and is coupled with effective marketing and promotions. Cambodia gets a good grade for recognising the call by the private sector to upgrade tourism promotion efforts.
Marketing materials and brochures in foreign languages - in Chinese, English, French, Japanese and Korean as proposed by the ministry - and addressing simple requests such as providing a proper map of Cambodia and expanding its marketing networking, will go a long way.
While Cambodia prepares itself to welcome 2.04 million visitor arrivals this year and 2.44 million next year, what is critical is it must do more to protect and preserve the Angkor temples from an ever-increasing number of visitors. If it succeeds, Cambodia will provide a good role model for other fledgling destinations. |
| Posted on 20 May, 2008, Resource from Phnom Penh Post |
COME ON OVER,...
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Cambodia' presence at major trade shows, the formation of an alliance with tourism powerhouse Thailand to twin the two destinations, and other plans such as the staging of the ASEAN Tourism Forum in 2003, scoring a first among the Indochina members of the grouping, paid off.