Tourism Indochina: Cambodia names new envoy to Philippines

Cambodia names new envoy to Philippines

Cambodia has a new ambassador to the Philippines.

A week after former envoy Hos Sereythonh was recalled amid a firestorm over comments made in a Philippine newspaper, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has tapped veteran diplomat Tuot Panha for the post, ministry spokesman Koy Kuong confirmed yesterday.

On July 9, following a contentious ASEAN Foreign Ministers summit in Phnom Penh in which backroom bickering over the South China Sea prevented the signing of a joint communiqué – a first in 45 years of such meetings – Sereythonh accused a Filipino diplomat of playing “dirty politics” in an op-ed piece that ran in The Philippine Star.

The former ambassador also took the governments of the Philippines and Vietnam – a fellow claimant to areas of the sea claimed by China – to task, saying they had wanted to “sabatoge and hijack” the joint communiqué by insisting references to the dispute be part of the language.

The Philippine government subsequently publicly summoned Sereythonh to explain the comments, an offer Sereythonh declined to accept, sending a deputy in his stead.

Yesterday, the government continued to deny that ending Sereythonh’s term as ambassador was connected with the row – a theory widely touted in the Filipino press – insisting it was simply the end of his assignment.

“The changing of the ambassador is a normal diplomatic issue,” Koy Kuong said.

“Other countries do the same thing . . . removing the ambassador from one country or to another country. I don’t think this is strange.”

Panha, currently, an undersecretary of state, has been at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for many years. He previously served as deputy cabinet chief for Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.

Asked if the new ambassador would be mending fences with the Philippines, Koy Kuong said that would not be necessary.

“We still have a good relationship [with the Philippines],” he said.

Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez and ambassador to Cambodia Noe Wong did not respond to inquiries from the Post yesterday.

Source: Phnompenhpost/17August2012

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Tourism Indochina: Preah Vihear to get new border crossing

Preah Vihear to get new border crossing

The Cambodian government is seeking a new international border checkpoint in Preah Vihear province to link with Thailand’s Ubun province, officials say.

Preah Vihear provincial governor Um Mara said officials from both countries had met to examine the possibility of opening a new international checkpoint.

“These days, this gateway is open only two days a week, but we want it to become an international checkpoint that is open every day of the week,” Mara said.

There is no scheduled deadline to open the new international checkpoint, to be named Anses, because discussions are still in the early stages.

“We are preparing the infrastructure there first, but the opening date is unknown at this time,” Mara said.

When the gateway becomes an international checkpoint, it will allow more goods to be transported through, and tourism in the province would soar as a result.

Kong Vibol, director of the Tourism Department in Preah Vihear province, said the Preah Vihear temple was only a 60-kilometre drive from Anses.

Ho Vandy, co-chair of the Tourism Task Force of the Government-Private Forum, said he welcomed the news.

Opening the gateway would open the area up to the tourism industry, as associations have suggested since March, 2008.

Source: Phnompenhpost/16August2012

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Tourism Indochina: World Tourism News: British government bids for post-Olympic tourism boost

British government bids for post-Olympic tourism boost

LONDON, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The British government on Tuesday said it hopes the London 2012 Olympics would give a boost to tourism to the country, particularly from China.

Addressing tourism industry leaders in London, British Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the British government was hoping to create a lasting tourism legacy from the Olympic games.

The British government has set out a strategy focusing on attracting visitors from China. It said there is potential to triple the number of Chinese tourists to Britain to 500,000 a year, which could generate more than 500 million pounds (784 million U.S. dollars) in extra spending and create more than 14,000 jobs in Britain.

About 150,000 Chinese tourists came to Britain last year. The number of Chinese visitors to France, in the meantime, were some 50 percent higher.

Key to the British tourism boosting strategy is an 8-million-pound marketing campaign focused on China.

The new tourism campaign will increase marketing in major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, and will look to improve flight links between the two countries.

The British government aims to increase the number of overseas visitors to Britain from just over 30 million currently to 40 million by 2020.

"We must use this extraordinary year to turbocharge our tourism industry, to create jobs and prosperity on the back of a globally-enhanced reputation," Hunt said.

At the same time, the secretary also hoped to boost domestic tourism. The British government plans to invest 2 million pounds in marketing to encourage Britons to take a holiday within the country.

Source: Xinhua/15August2012

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Tourism Indochina: Upswing in tourists equals more operators

Upswing in tourists equals more operators

The number of tour operators registered with Ministry of Tourism increased by more than 10 per cent in the first half of this year compared to last year due to an upswing in the number of tourists visiting the Kingdom, insiders say.

Figures from the tourism ministry showed newly registrated tour companies reached 568 companies in the first six months while the figures for last year were only 516 tour companies, for the same period. Among those companies last year, 403 were head offices and 113 branches in the provinces. Head offices increased to 459, but the brances decreased by 4 in the first six months of 2012.

Prak Chandara, director of the Tourism Industry Department of the Ministry of Tourism, said the increase in the number of tour companies resulted from an increase in the number of tourists visiting Cambodia.

“Registration increased because they are seeing more tourists come through,” he said.

Among those companies, 205 companies, which are members of Cambodian Association of Travel Agents (CATA), have 76 branches in provinces, mostly in Siem Reap province.

Ang Kim Eang, president of CATA, agreed with Prak Chandara and said some newly established companies were preparing themselves for the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.

"When the ASEAN Economic Community comes into force in 2015, there would be an increase in the easy circulation of goods, but tourists from the region as well", he said. “This is good preparation for Khmer tour operators,” he said, adding: “I think that some companies will be ready to open branches in other countries by 2015.”

Phoan Sopheak, tour operator at Angkor Seventh Travel company in Phnom Penh, said he saw the numbers of tourists increase considerably in recent months, particularly in Siem Reap where there were crowds of tourists, even thoughout the rainy season.

Source: Phnompenhpost/15August2012

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Tourism Indochina: Tourism entrepreneurs get connected

Tourism entrepreneurs get connected

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has begun matching tourism entrepreneurs in an effort to provide better quality services to tourists in Cambodia, company officials say.

Thourn Sinan, chairman of PATA’s Cambodia chapter, said the matches would allow better quality services among the tourism entrepreneurs of Cambodia to thrive.

“This is the best channel for connecting you to the people you need to know,” he said, adding that “it’s not just about what we know, but who we know in this business.”

The purpose of matching entrepreneurs is to strengthen relations, extend business networks, raise awareness of important issues, and to save time in Cambodia’s tourism industry, according to a press release from PATA.

Nuon Someth, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Tourism, said late last week that this was the second time PATA organised entrepreneur matching, and 63 companies took part, compared to only 40 companies during the previous event.

“We can consider this event as an important one for participating in improving tourism sector in Cambodia,” he said.

Statistics from the Ministry of Tourism show the number of international tourists visiting Cambodia grew almost 27 per cent in the first six months of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011. Visitors coming to Cambodia during the first six months of the year numbered 1,756,652, compared to 1,385,029 in 2011.

Tourism Minister Thong Khon said the tourism situation in the Asia Pacific region and ASEAN, in particular, is better than other areas of the world.

Source: Phnompenhpost/13August2012

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Tourism Indochina: Tourism project puts temple on road to recovery

Tourism project puts temple on road to recovery

Walking the vine-wreathed paths of Banteay Chhmar, a 12th-century temple near the Thai border that some call the “second Angkor Wat” feels like sneaking into a renowned historical site after the tour guides and the tourists have all gone home.

The pervasive silence can strike a first-time visitor as odd, given that the temple is open to anyone who embarks on the trip. But it is far from abnormal, say members of the Community-Based Tourism project in Banteay Chhmar village, an initiative supported by the group restoring the temple, Global Heritage Fund.

Hampered by its isolation and working on a shoestring budget, the project has made slow, but steady, progress since its inception five years ago. The number of sightseers goes up and down.

“Some days, one person will sit alone in the temple, some days, there is a group, and some days, no one visits the temple,” says the local director, Tath Sophal, while balancing himself against scaffolding on top of a section of ruins.

“The tourists who want to visit here, they always ask when they email, ‘What about the road?’ he said.

That road, a 69-kilometre sun-baked stretch of potholes, is a turbulent, two-hour ride from sleepy Sisophon town in northwestern Banteay Meanchey.

And that’s without inclement weather.

When the potholes collect water, as they have a habit of doing during the rainy season, the moist clay soil creates muddy, slippery impasses. Towards the end of last year, when the country experienced major flooding, four or five tour groups cancelled their visits.

Although inaccessibility is a problem tourism infrastructure and the financial benefits that go with it have been growing year after year.

In 2007, when the program was established, 281 people visited Banteay Chhmar, which archaeologists believe was built by King Jayavarman VII during the Angkorian period.

The temple, though in disrepair, retains ornate bas-reliefs carved into walls depicting military confrontations between ancient Khmer soldiers and Cham armies.

The first year, tourists only spent around $3,000. Through a number of expanded activities, the project boosted revenue and took in $10,000 last year. In the period of January through July of 2012, visitors and profits were up 25 per cent, Sophal said.

Even the forbidding road that everyone emails about is getting a long overdue makeover, courtesy of the Asian Development Bank. Construction should be finished by the end of 2013.

The project trained tour guides in English, introduced scenic ox-cart rides and offered cooked meals at the office.

Tourists can also sleep over at “homestays,” in which four families have refurbished parts of their residences as modest guest houses.

“I like hosting the tourists when they come here,” said Siem Seiv, 64, who arrived in the dusty and placid area of 1,200 families in 1993, after spending time in a Thai refugee camp following Khmer Rouge rule.

Siev and his family partitioned off a half the second floor, two bedrooms in total, for overnight guests.

“So we are like one family together,” Siev said. Although he makes about $400 a year from the homestay, it’s not enough, he says, explaining that he farms for extra income.

Most of the tour guides have two, or even three, jobs because giving tours is not steady full-time work.

Peat Pel, 38, is a guide, a moto taxi driver, a traditional music teacher and a farmer. He needs the extra work to help raise his two kids. He’s been taking intensive English classes for the past year as part of an agreement with tutors in Siem Reap.

Learning English will help him be a better guide, he says. But first, more tourists need to come.

“Right now it’s not sustainable yet, because the money is only a little,” Peat Pel says.

Source: Phnompenhpost/13August2012

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Tourism Indochina: A very Jolie birthday for Cambodian son

A very Jolie birthday for Cambodian son

He's the lucky Cambodian son hand-picked by Hollywood royalty – the adopted child of the film star Angelina Jolie, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, turned 11 years old yesterday.

Cambodian well-wishers posted messages online in tribute to the boy. Internet users on the local blog Sabay wished him good health.

Maddox, who was originally known as Rath Vibol, was adopted from an orphanage in the country at seven months old.

He is the eldest child of Jolie and her fiancé, actor Brad Pitt.

They went to the orphanage in 2002 while she was in Cambodia filming Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and also working as a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

A year after the adoption she set up the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation in Battambang province, a project dedicated to community development and environmental preservation.

The adoption caused controversy in the United States when allegations were made that the actress paid Maddox’s birth parents to give him up.

The orphanage in Cambodia said that his parents had passed away and nobody has come forward claiming to be his original parents.

Although Jolie and her then-husband Billy Bob Thornton announced the adoption together, she adopted Maddox as a single parent before she met actor Brad Pitt in 2005.

The couple announced their engagement in April. They have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax, Zahara, and three biological children, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.

Source: Phnompenhpost/6August2012

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