Cambodia's changing image

According to the Minister of tourism, H.E. Veng Sereyvuth the recent surge in this sector must be accounted for the "great change in the image of the country" through the improvement of social living conditions and upgrading of facilities. Indeed, with an average growth of 20 to 30%, tourism has become one of the strongest sectors in the Cambodian economy

Tourism related activities - hotels and restaurants - grew at an average annual rate of 30 percent over 1994-1995. It slowed down during 1996-98, but picked up again in 1999 when it grew by 20 percent. Over the last few years, the development in the tourism industry has made a significant contribution to economic growth by attracting foreign investments, creating jobs and generating income for the local people.

If the country suffered from a negative image from the war's legacy, "there is right now an opportunity that has been missing for 30 years" says H.E. Veng Sereyvuth, Minister of Tourism. Indeed the ASEAN Tourism Forum, which took place in Phnom Penh last January, served as a positive testing ground for Cambodia's ability to handle a project of international scope and was an exceptional springboard for the launching of "the Visit Cambodia Year" with a slogan " Cambodia World of Treasure".

Though, tourism still suffers Cambodia's 3 decades of war, the priority for the next five years are lying mainly in the development of the overall infrastructure.

Transport re-facing

With improved infrastructure - Airport renovation and construction projects are currently implemented or planned at Pochentong, Siem Reap, Ratanakkiri, Stung Treng, Kampong Chhnang, plus the addition of Sihanoukville as a regional airport and the completion of a major road network that will connect all parts of the country in the next 3 to5 years - the potential for tourism in Cambodia is immense.
Indeed development of tourism markets depends largely on improved access to, and movement within, Cambodia. This future diversification of domestic flights will thus provide tourist access to a wider range of destinations.
At the Ministry of Tourism there seem to be confidence on this part. As H.E. Veng Sereyvuth forecasts that by "2008; we will have a complete infrastructure in terms of road link. With the ASEAN highway from Thailand to Vietnam and all the national road links up to Laos and the national road to Angkor Wat."

Furthermore the Open Sky policy, launched by the Royal Government allowed foreign airline companies to fly directly to Siem Reap and the Angkor temples, which brought in a large amount of foreign and local tourists to Angkor Wat. Thanks to this initiative Cambodia has given direct access to its major tourist assets but the road access from Thailand, Vietnam or other tourism oriented neighbors, is still lacking. Mr. Meng Hieng, Managing Director of Exotissimo and president of the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents (CATA) considers that "if we could attract to Cambodia a small percentage out of those 10 million tourists that each country (Thailand, Vietnam…) receives, that would mean a real development in terms of tourism" and that "when we talk about tourism growth in Cambodia, we are not talking about 3% or 5% but about 25% to 35% each year".

Nevertheless the Open Sky Policy focuses only in the development on the main tourist asset of the country; the Angkor Wat complex, and has left behind other destinations such as the capital city. Reaching the core of this issue Michel G.L. Horn, Managing Director of Cambodiana investment PTE. Ltd, owner company of Hotel Cambodiana declares "The Cambodiana's Hotel development strategy has to focus on business because as long as the Open Sky Policy is in place and as long as the country is not completely open; with new destinations where we can offer various packages for tourists to stay three, four, five nights within Cambodia, tourists may carry on to bypass Phnom Penh".

Professionals underline the importance of diversifying the "products" offered within Cambodia and to establish a clear and comprehensive development and communication plan for the sector.

Development plans

The government has framed for the sector a development plan focused on 4 strategic regional areas symbolically forming a dragon: Siem Reap (Cultural tourism) with the Angkor complex, Phnom Penh (body of the dragon, business tourism), Sihanoukville (head of dragon for tourism and industry with the sea tourism) and Rotanak-kiri eco-tourism (tale of the dragon). The government aims at developing an overall strategy for tourism development with among others the establishment of a tourism attraction information database. This will concentrate on information concerning the tourism product: the categories of attractions (built cultural heritage resource, living cultural heritage, events and festivals, natural heritage site, recreation, entertainment, rural/farm, adventure), their location, type, ownership, legal status, visitation pattern, and accessibility, giving information about the planning/regulatory framework, tourism and general physical infrastructure, facilities, services, economic impact, and utilities and lastly a database will describe the various types of local attractions in terms of their planning and management capacities, attributes of the attraction, and facilities and services available.

Eco-tourism and sustainable developments

Cambodia has good prospects for developing both eco-tourism and cultural tourism. The Angkor Temples and pristine environments of Cardamom Mountains, and other protected forest and wildlife areas offer good potential for development. However, this ought to be pursued on a sustainable basis.

The Government's APSARA Authority and Angkor Conservation commission has allocated 1100 hectares of land in Siem Reap for a tourism development Zone, south from the protected area of the site. Bun Narith, President Executive Director of APSARA Authority explains that "the Authority has signed with the Meta Mékong group for the development of a 8 ha zone through a 70 year concession. A 30 ha zone has been reserved for the construction of hotels". APSARA Authority has primarily set the objective to maintain a balance between actions to protect the cultural heritage and the environment and the need to develop a strong tourism industry as part of a necessary socio-economic development in Siem Reap. Offering service will be a token of a worthy experience for the tourist. Fifteen international organisations are actively working with APSARA Authority in order to preserve the temples. It also undertook the training of monument guards and offers local residents the tourism related employment opportunities.

H.E. Sok An, Minister in charge of the council of Ministers explains that thanks to its "Environment awareness oriented policy; Angkor will be the world's first cultural heritage site to be awarded an ISO 14001 certificate for the implementation of environment". There is a strong desire to protect the historical legacy in Cambodia, considering that tourism development can be sustainable by maintenance of the integrity of cultural and religious traditional matched with proper management of the natural and environment protection.

Cambodia: a future one-stop destination?

Tourism arrivals in Cambodia are estimated to reach one million in 2003 to 2.2 million by the year 2006, generating more than US$1 billion in foreign exchange earnings.

Tourism in Cambodia has bucked the trend that saw many global and regional tourism destinations suffer adversely from the general regional crisis. Furthermore Cambodia has experienced no decline at all in visitor numbers; in fact on the contrary Cambodia is expected to record growths of at least 25% year-on-year between now and 2006.

The average tourist stays about three days in Cambodia currently and spends an estimated US$400 during their stay. Most of the parties involved in tourism in Cambodia agree to state that one of the main tasks is to bring visitors to extend their stay as Marc Bessagat, General Manager of the Sofitel Royal Angkor points out "We are not yet a one stand destination…we need to develop this new concept, we are all collaborating in the whole industry sector in order to increase this stay".

The challenges are set; implement the national infrastructure for a better accessibility of the several tourist sites, such as Rattanak Kiri in the East of the country. Develop a better infrastructure to welcome all kind of tourists, especially in the coastal area, where many projects are being developed such as golf's and five stars complexes. Last but not least diversify and promote the several assets of Cambodia in order to make it a one-stop destination. The renewed political peace and stability is the first step to all these achievements and step-by-step, with its world famous Angkor temples, Cambodia is gaining popularity.