Q1. Could you give us a brief outline of the tourism industry in Cambodia in the last five years?

A1. Yes, thank you. We have achieved an average growth of 20% to 30% in the last couple of years and this is due to, I believe, several factors. Number one, there is a great change in the image of the country, of course, I don't want to go into detail, but for some decades there has been a war in the country. There was violence, we were associated with the Khmer Rouge this is the past of this country. So people were apprehensive, not sure to come to Cambodia, but in the last five years I think this has changed a lot. The market has started to respond; the industry people are starting to take interest in the country, of course, combined with the infrastructure development and average improvement of life. You have been able to see the airport and other facilities, so I think it is the strength of the market, the infrastructure, the facilities, not just the roads and the airport, but also the hotels in regards to service, who are upgrading their qualities. I think that this growth has a lot to do with a country that is opening up, offering new destinations, like our well-known temple of Angkor Wat that is really attracting a lot of attention.

Q2. Tourism has become one of the strongest sector in the Cambodian economy, as you mentioned you have been experiencing an average growth of 20% to 30%. What are the priorities of the government regarding your sector?

A2. The infrastructure development continues to be our priority. In other words, we have to expand the airports to cover other parts of the country. We have to continue to expand the road links. We have to go to certain parts of the country by constructing or rehabilitating airports and also create road links with our neighbors. We have a major link in the southern part of the country with Thailand. We only need to complete the bridge so we will have a new highway from Koh Kong to Sihanoukville. Development of the airport in Sihanoukville will also mean we allow the cruise ships to come in. The cruise ship industry represents 7% of tourism growth in this part of the world, so it is not small at all. We are talking about 136 million people visiting the Asia Pacific area last year. So 7% of this Asian market for cruising would mean big business for us. So we need to build the airport to allow the passengers of these cruise ships to fly from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap, to Phnom Penh, or you enable people to reach Sihanoukville from Siem Reap by airplane. Another priority is to expand the infrastructure in terms of port, sea-port, road, airport, but also at the same time we are expanding our tourism attractions to cover other parts of the country. So we are allowing Cambodia to benefit from people that stay longer and spend more money. So this is the logic of the whole business.

Q3. Is it your Ministry who is in charge of the infrastructure?

A3. Not completely, but we have signed with ADB (Asian Development Bank) four to six weeks ago for 23 million US dollars. This amount is meant for tourism infrastructure development. So, for example in the eastern part of Cambodia we have allocated approximately US$9 million for improvements of the airports in Rattanakiri province and Stung Treng province. Logically, as I said to you already, we mean to expand the tourism area to cover the eastern part of the country. This means we are expanding opportunities for eco-tourism. In the East we have waterfalls, hill tribes and large national parks. There is a population density of only 7 people per square kilometer. There is also the Mekong River cutting across the region so we will open up the water ways as well; and the road is part of the infrastructure development linking up with Laos. So, I would say openly that in 3 to 5 years, we are talking about 2008; we will have a complete infrastructure in terms of road link. There will be a national road system all over the country including the ASEAN highway from Thailand to Vietnam and all the national road links up to Laos and the national road to Angkor Wat. We will have new airports and new border openings up north. So the next 5 years for us will mean major improvement in infrastructure, opening up new tourism destinations, linking up Cambodia with Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. All together we are talking about a tourism industry that is skyrocketing. For this year we have a target of one million tourists. I will achieve 1 million with confidence. So far I have no change in the plan; we need 200,000 more visitors over 2002 to reach the 1 million people target this year. If you take a look at Thailand, they had 10 million tourists last year and their aim for 2003 is 11.2 million. If you consider this figure and the fact that there is only 157 km from the Thai border to Angkor Wat, I only need to attract 5% of this 10 million and I will be receiving 500,000 people using this road to visit Angkor Wat. So I have no problem with forecasting 25 to 30% increase per year.

Q4. You shared with us your plans to develop other airports in the country. We have been hearing about open sky policy, could you tell us more about this initiative?

A4. Open sky policy is very suitable for emerging countries, we are more than emerging, we are undeveloped, coming from a civil war period and having thus a very bad image. Tourism policy is about deciding to move or sitting on a fence. With this open sky policy I am telling the industry that I mean business. I am for Tourism. I am opening up the country. Tourism is all about opening up and you cannot remain on the sideline on this one. When you are relying on the regional market and the local market you have no other policy than to allow them to fly direct to our country. Open up the country, open up the sky. We are talking about the regional market supplying the tourists to our country from different places like Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, even Vietnam which is growing very fast now. The Vietnamese airline has direct links with Sydney, Tokyo, France, all that from Vietnam so it is easy to arrange packages on to Cambodia. So an open sky policy to me, for a country like Cambodia, is the only good policy. What is Tourism all about? It is transportation; it is the major component of people moving around, right? What can I do just between Thailand and Vietnam by the border? The air link is very important for us. The open sky policy is very effective for us. This policy also serves other purposes. The industry looks at Cambodia and the policy of its government and see this policy is in place and it is reassuring to them. And we are not talking only about open-sky policy, we also have the visa on arrival policy. It has to come together, people do not need to stand for hours or wait for days to obtain their visas, forget it, they would go somewhere else! Tourism is about choices, so it is very important that you create a policy that really facilitate things. We are really going from visa on arrival at the airport or at the 8 international land border points leading into Cambodia. We are also upgrading the terminal of the international airport in Phnom Penh and concerning the open sky, we will soon also receive flights from Japan and Korea directly. This is why I am saying that in a few years this country will be up there.

Q5. You have mentioned regional tourism; what then is the added value Cambodia can offer compared to the rest of the sub-region?

A5. I do not believe in the word uniqueness. For me everything is about complementing and people willing to explore something new. So, I must say to you openly, for us Angkor Wat is a platform. The temple is very well-known, we are marketing it as a brand and will keep doing so for years. This is one of the strengths of our tourism industry, but people want to come and see not only Angkor Wat alone. I must say we are a rich country in culture, in natural resources, but I think the most important asset of Cambodia apart from everything else is the people. It is very important for the tourism industry; it is not just about building a 5-star hotel, you can build 5-star hotels everywhere. It is about hospitality, it is about welcoming, it is about making guests feel comfortable and it is the people who do that. It is their direct interaction with the guests.

Q6. Last January, you hosted the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Phnom Penh, what are the main conclusions you can draw out of that Forum?

A6. Firstly, there were a lot of doubts concerning our ability to host this event.

It was a huge task organizing a forum for 2000 people with massive transportation and logistical challenges; even the program itself; some people had a lot of doubts. But we were determined to succeed based upon a desire to grab the chance to bring the world to Cambodia and demonstrate that Cambodia is a country that is able to organize such an event and handle it just like other countries. And we performed admirably; we have demonstrated our abilities and the Forum was a complete success! We had no experience before, but you can talk to anybody who came. The conclusion is that right now there is an opportunity that has been missing for 30 years; this country has been at war for 30 years. What makes Cambodia different to the rest of the world or to the region is that we never had the opportunities. Given the opportunity we have demonstrated to you that Cambodia can perform like any other country. So we have been able to take this opportunity and use it to expose ourselves to the world. Seeing is believing. These are not local tourists who run around and shop, they are industry buyers, the ones that pull, push and make the industry move. They were here and they are going to benefit from what Cambodia has to offer for years to come.

Q7. The ASEAN Tourism Forum has been a great opportunity to promote Cambodia. What other promotion activities does your Ministry handle within and outside the country?

A7. Image is an on going process and is not a one shot you say to them this year. The policy needs to be streamlined, going more on the image building of the country. Marketing again is an ongoing process; you have got to promote your new destinations, you must promote your facilities, so Cambodia has to do ten times more than other countries because of our past and because we are new in the market. We are the new boy in town basically! We have got a lot of work to do. So I think that marketing and image building is important. Of course not only those two aspects are important but also regulation inside the country and the companies are very important. How do you regulate the industry? How do you regulate the hygiene, the service and the safety? All these things have to be compiled and Cambodia have a lot to do in terms of all those matters. We still have the law to be passed by the National Assembly and next month will pass to the Council of Ministers.

Q8. You mean the new Tourism Law?

A8. Oh! yes, yes, ADB is helping us to develop it.

Q9. Can you tell us a little bit more about this new Tourism Law?

A9. The Tourism Law goes specifically into how the industry is being regulated, especially with the tour operators, the travel agents, the tour guides, the hotels; all of these elements. This is one of the areas of the Law. The second area is the way to manage malpractice and the sanctions or suspension of licenses. Other issues are the protection of the environment against pollution and the exploitation of sex tourism, which will both be stated in the Law and consequently punished. This new Law will also require that the Ministry of Tourism creates a master plan for the country and it has to be resubmitted every 3 or 4 years. Planning is important specially if we consider that we want to create sustainable tourism development. Tourism can have also a bad side; it is not always a honeymoon. It can destroy the environment, the culture, pollute the area, so the master plan has to be approved by the cabinet and resubmitted every three years to control the execution of it.

Q10. What are the main tools in your hands to attract foreign direct investment?

A10. Our role is to facilitate the execution of certain policies through incentives in the service industry. For example, we allow the import of construction materials with no tax. In terms of investment for hotels and other constructions and the promotion of it, the main body responsible is the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), we are present on the board in order to review the investment projects concerning our sector. The attraction of investors is the role of the CDC because they have the guidelines for it. We have three ways of working. First we work with our embassies all around the world. Secondly we work by appointing companies to be our representatives in certain parts of the world. We have appointed Indochina Service to be our representative in the United States, and we also recently appointed a representative in India. On a second phase we will send our people to work with them. Finally we also promote ourselves at international fairs like the ITB in Berlin, WTM in London and others in the United States and Asia Pacific.

Q11. Our readers would like to know about the man behind the Ministry. Could you tell us about your career path and what you want to accomplish while in office?

A11. Yes, first I was a refugee to Thailand in 1980, and then I went to New Zealand from 1980 to 1987. I completed my bachelor's degree in political science from Victoria University in New Zealand. I came back to Cambodia to work as Minister of Tourism from 1993 to 1998. That was my first term, and now between 1998 and 2003 is the second term. I have been here for ten years now. In terms of strengths in the tourism industry, Cambodia has a lot of advantages. We have Angkor Wat, and there is no way you can build another Angkor Wat and we have so many temples around the country. Next to that, we have also 400 km of the Mekong River, this is an important natural resource and a huge potential for tourism. As I said before, the most important asset is the people. So to me we should continue to see that tourism is one of the most important sectors of the economy of this country. We will talk about better living standards, jobs for the people, foreign exchange; this is the tourism industry you talk about. You talk about the whole development of the country? Tourism has a role in the construction of bridges, electricity, airports… it is because of tourism that the infrastructure of the country is being developed. So, what I want to achieve is that we move into this industry with a proper development plan that divides up the country into regions and combine it, so that it allows tourists to move around and see different aspects of the country but in a way that is sustainable, in a way that protects the environment, in a way that also preserves the culture. I have seen a lot of examples where tourism destroys the culture, pollutes the environment and exploits the poor. What is tourism all about this days? Tourism is about people being fed up and looking for a getaway. They want to go back to nature, they want to go back to the culture and they want to go back to a fresh and green environment. So culture, people, environment is part of the tourism attraction. I will give you one simple example; people wanted to move the local inhabitants from Angkor. In the whole region there are over 300 temples, Angkor Wat is just one temple among the 300 other hundred temples. They said we could plan for this and to move the people north. But this is not possible, the people from Angkor are apart of the whole Angkor tourism attraction. Their blood is part of the culture and the temples itself. They are the ones who protect and give life to the temples, who give life to the whole environment. So we have to talk about the environment, the people, the site, all combined make an attraction, a lively attraction. You asked me what I want to achieve? I want to see a tourism plan, and for us to take advantage from it. The plan will give us strength and open up the area, but at the same time protecting it, because tourism is about the resources and we cannot destroy the resources of tourism we have.

Q12. A final question, do you have a final message to our readers who are potential investors?

A12. Indeed I do. Don't look at Cambodia in the year 2000 or 2001; see Cambodia in 2010 or 2015. This country will be pushed and pulled by the economic strength and economic expansion of the region. We are talking about 1 billion people in China, 515 million people around ASEAN. So we are talking about Cambodia's position in one of the most dynamic and aggressive regions, and Cambodia will be pushed and pulled by this economic force. I can say to all readers with great confidence that Cambodia in the future will be enormously developed. It will not turn back now it is moving now and it is going to move very, very quickly in the next few years.