The Cambodian gov’t is committed to lasting tourism

20 Dec 2008
By Ky Soklim and Romain Roget
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

On Friday 19 December, the Council of ministers adopted a new draft law on tourism which has three goals: quality, efficiency and lasting development.

The draft law, which contains 12 points and 76 chapters, was presented by the minister of Tourism and it should resolve some of the contradicting issues, such as attracting more tourists and foreign funds while preserving natural, cultural and traditional Cambodian resources. The emphasis is placed on the improvement of the welcoming quality, an issue that Cambodia still has a lot to improve on. According to the government, the draft law should also contribute to the reduction of poverty.

In 2007, Cambodia attracted 2 million tourists and brought in more than $1 billion in revenue. The government hopes to strengthen this crucial sector that is currently being threatened by the worldwide economic crisis.

 

Tourist sector calls for help

10 Feb 2009

By Ky Soklim

Cambodge Soir Hebdo  Translated from French by Tola Ek

Click here to read the article in French

Representatives of the working group from the tourism private sector and officials from the ministry of Tourism will meet each other on Thursday 12 February, to stimulate a restart in tourist activities which were hit hard in 2008 from the worldwide economic crisis. Ho Vandy, the former president of the Association of tourist agencies in Cambodia, declared that the private tourist sector will submit several proposals to the ministry, and that it hopes that the ministry will take them into serious consideration. The private sector’s proposals mainly point to a lowering price of the “tourist package,” such as, lower cost for airfare, lower access fee to tourist sites managed by private companies, lower hotel cost, as well as lower visa fee. “We want to offer a special tourist package to face the crisis period,” Ho Vandy said. “If the government accepts it, we hope to pull up the tourist sector,” he indicated. Since the crisis affected the tourist sector in Cambodia, people involved in this sector are complaining about a significant loss of revenue. Each year, Cambodia welcomes more than 2 million visitors who spend more than $1.4 billion. In 2008, the number of visitors increased only by 5%, this is much lower that the 17% growth recorded in 2007