Travel Indochina sets new standards in responsible tourism

Our collective impact on the environment is rapidly becoming a greater concern, and Travel Indochina has responded to this concern by showing travelers how they can make a difference while on vacation without sacrificing any of the fun.

With local offices in the region, the leading Asia specialist’s overseas team is able to hand-pick suppliers who operate in accordance with its responsible travel principles. Travel Indochina not only requires responsible behavior from its suppliers, but works closely with them to develop and set new standards in the tourism industry.

In June 2008, one of the tour operator’s most popular hotels, the Anantara Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai, Thailand, was recognized by Forbes Traveler in the “World’s Most Responsible Hotels” category. Set in a stunning location, overlooking the hills of Myanmar and Laos, this magical property was recognized for the humanitarian efforts it has made in protecting the environment and promoting conservation. A highlight of a stay in this beautiful resort is a visit to the elephant camp, set in a lush bamboo forest.

Travel Indochina’s Business Development Manager, David Rothschild, explains why the hotel fits the bill: “The Anantara Golden Triangle exemplifies responsible travel for us. The sanctuary not only acts as a safe haven for the elephants, but in addition provides steady employment for its keepers and their families. This is just one example demonstrating the types of projects supported by Travel Indochina.

In addition to doing business exclusively with travel partners who practice responsible tourism behaviors, Travel Indochina seeks to support the people in those communities visited by its tours. For example, the company supports KOTO (Know One, Teach One), an organization that has trained nearly 250 Vietnamese street and disadvantaged kids to be chefs and service staff. In Cambodia, Travel Indochina supports the Angkor Hospital for Children, which provides inpatient and outpatient care to needy children. It also trains Cambodian health care professionals, and promotes public health initiatives in Siem Reap province and greater Cambodia. In Laos, Travel Indochina supports the work of Big Brother Mouse (BBM), a project aimed at publishing books for children to increase literacy levels in Lao PDR.

The Small Group Journeys and tailor-made travel arrangements offered by Travel Indochina allow for more genuine experiences with local people and their environments. Travel Indochina vacation experiences avoid the negative impacts of mass tourism. With group sizes limited to a maximum of 15 people, Travel Indochina’s customers benefit from opportunities for cultural exchange, with options such as home stays and eco-lodge experiences enabling social interaction with people from different backgrounds.

Travel Indochina differs from many other tour operators in that it employs local staff, wherever possible, in its overseas offices. This team is one of Travel Indochina’s most valuable assets and customers benefit from the responsible way in which they are looked after. Local staff members are well-trained, treated and compensated and their passion for their countries is widely recognized by Travel Indochina’s customers.

Mr. Rothschild explains: “Worldwide, we have a loyal base of clients who come back to Travel Indochina time and time again and it’s our team that makes the real difference. The combination of local English speaking guides and Western tour leaders means our customers get the best of both worlds and, as a result, our hand-picked itineraries are full of unforgettable experiences that travelers will not find with other companies.”


Source: Travel Daily News

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But rumours abound whether spirit of Jerry Garcia will move Bryan Saltus to defend title

But rumours abound whether spirit of Jerry Garcia will move Bryan Saltus to defend title DETAILS of the second Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open 2008 golf tournament to be held at the Sofitel Hotel's Phokeethra Country Club golf course in Siem Reap from December 8 to December 14 were unveiled at an extravagant launch earlier this week.

The launch kicked off with a welcome dinner in the Sofitel ballroom on Monday evening, followed by a press conference at Angkor Wat on Tuesday morning, followed by an official lunch, followed by a round of "friendship" golf for supporters, sponsors and the media.

Dignitaries present included Hor Sarun, deputy director of the Ministry of Tourism; So Mara, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Tourism; Bun Tharith, deputy governor of Siem Reap province; and Chau Sun Kerya, director of the Department of Cultural Development Museum and Heritage Norms.

Heavyweights from Thailand included Sofitel Southeast Asia vice president Christophe Caron and Suttiluk Samranyoo, deputy managing director of Thai Nakorn Patana Co Ltd, the Bangkok-based pharmaceutical giant that developed the hotel.

The Cambodian Open is the kingdom's only international golf tournament and is part of a record 2008 Asian Tour schedule of 30 tournaments with almost US$40 million on offer.

Asian Tour is the official sanctioning body for professional golf in Asia and is a member of the International Federation of PGA Tours, the only recognised pan-Asian professional golf tour in Asia.

The prize purse at this year's Cambodian Open is a handy $300,000, and the format is a 72-holes stroke event played in accordance with the Asian Tour regulations.

There will also be a pro-am event on the Wednesday before the tournament, in what is billed as "tournament week".

Asian Tour senior vice president Gerry Norquist was also at the launch and he said that, through the Cambodian Open, "this emerging nation will once again be showcased to the world. As the only professional golf tournament in Cambodia, the Asian Tour will greatly enhance the landscape of professional golf in Cambodia and hopefully unearth new home-grown talents."

While last year's inaugural Open didn't unearth a wealth of local talent, it did launch an American oddity into cult figure status on the Asian golfing circuit, in the guise of Bryan Saltus, a veteran attendee of 150 Grateful Dead concerts which, while in itself has nothing to do with golf, has everything to do with him playing golf. He said he had a "religious experience" at a Dead concert in Las Vegas in 1993 in the form of a dream that he would one day win the US Masters.

On August 9, 1995, Grateful Dead's leader Jerry Garcia died, and Saltus' reaction was to immediately turn pro.

He's been hacking around golf courses ever since, with his awkward style gaining him a modicum of recognition in Golfweek, which wrote, "It's hard not to be amused by his golf swing. Unorthodox hardly begins to describe it."

He surprised everybody, probably including himself, by winning the first Cambodia Open after edging out Australian Adam Groom.

He celebrated his maiden Asian Tour win by jumping into the lake near the 18th green, crediting the unlikely victory to a new putter, after tossing his previous putter into another lake after missing the cut by one shot the week before in Vietnam. And, of course, he dedicated the win to the Grateful Dead.

Can he do it again in Cambodia this year? Will he even appear? The Cambodia Open 2008 press release states he will "undoubtedly be amongst the contenders again." When pressed whether "undoubtedly" means there is doubt about whether he will front, Sofitel clubhouse manager Maximilian Kaendler said Saltus has signed on and would play if there were no preventive misfortunes such as ill health or injuries, Or perhaps a Grateful Dead concert.


Written by Peter Olszewski

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No room at the inn

The number of high-end hotel rooms serving luxury and business travelers is failing to keep up with strong annual tourism growth, officials say CAMBODIA is facing a shortfall of 3,000 hotel rooms in the face of tourist arrivals growing at an annual rate of up to 20 percent, said a tourism official in Phnom Penh.

"There is a shortage of about 1,500 hotel rooms in Phnom Penh and of about 1,500 rooms in Sihanoukville due to tourist growth and the business boom," said Kousoum Saroeuth, director general for the Ministry of Tourism.

"But the shortage is mainly for high-end hotels."

He added, "We have enough hotels and guesthouses for common tourists, but we need more high-end hotels for luxury tourists and business people."

He said that Cambodia had about 350 hotels with roughly 20,000 rooms, including 140 in Phnom Penh, 100 in Siem Reap, about 50 in Sihanoukville, with the rest in other provinces.

The hotel industry was a major revenue-earner but no figures were available on how much hotels earn every year, Kousoum Saroeuth said.

He noted that two million tourists were visiting Cambodia every year, generating revenues of about US$1.4 billion last year. He added that tourism was responsible for generating about 300,000 jobs.

So Mara, undersecretary of state at the Tourism Ministry, said that even with the shortfall, the industry had grown quickly to meet demand.

"The good side is that this industry is mostly owned by local investors, so revenues are not flowing out of the country," he said. "Tourism has grown about 19 percent year-on-year, so demand for accommodation will grow, too."

But Cambodian Hotel Association President Luu Meng said there was still too little investment in top-end accommodation.

"In this industry, what we need is high-class hotels for high-class guests. Currently, we have a lot of hotels, but only a few are top class," Luu Meng said.

He noted that the hotel industry was responsible for creating about 22,000 jobs in the Kingdom but that the industry carried risks for investors as it was vulnerable to economic downturns and political instability.

Regional hotels have also been affected by high fuel prices and increased airfares, as well as a slowing global economy, he added.

"Security and safety are the major priority for this sector, and road infrastructure comes next," Luu Meng said.

Kousoum Saroeuth said that, in a bid to strengthen the hotel industry, the Tourism Ministry would require hotels to obtain proper classifications or risk having their licences pulled.

The classification ranges from one to five stars, he said. "Since the sub decree on hotel classification took effect in 2003 ... only 15 out of 350 hotels in Cambodia have been classified: 12 in Siem Reap, two in Phnom Penh and one in Sihanoukville."

He said that, since 2003, the Ministry of Tourism has warned hotel owners to apply with the ministry for classifications, but most had ignored the notice.

"As soon as the new government is formed, if hotel owners still ignore having their hotels classified, they will be denied extensions to their operating licences, which they need to apply for every year," he said.

The hotel standards conformed to ASEAN rules, he said, and "will build credibility among foreigners as well as trust that the hotels they are staying in are as good as others in ASEAN. It will also allow hotels to promote themselves and strengthen their service."

He said that the classification procedures were not complicated and would take only three days to complete.


Written by Nguon Sovan

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Asia Pacific tourism revenues set to rise by 2010

Tourism revenues in the Asia Pacific region will increase to 4.6 trillion U.S. dollars with visitor arrivals reaching close to 500 million by the end of 2010, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) said on Wednesday.

In its newly-published Asia Pacific Tourism Forecasts 2008-2010, officially launched here on Wednesday in partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), the PATA said that despite concerns over a U.S. recession, it predicts a bright future for the region, with China and South Korea set to generate strong outbound growth to Asia Pacific destinations.

Despite regional stock market volatility and uncertainty over local impacts of a possible U.S. recession, the PATA predicts robust average annual growth rates of between 7 percent and 8 percent in the region.

John Koldowski, director of PATA's strategic intelligence center, said that as much as two-thirds of all international arrivals into Asia Pacific are generated from within the region.

He said that Asian markets will inevitably be impacted by a slowdown in the U.S. economy triggered by the credit crunch. However, the medium-term outlook for most Asian economies is very strong with growth rates well above world averages.

As for Singapore's tourism sector, the PATA said in its annual forecasts that with 10.3 million visitor arrivals recorded for 2007 and 12 million forecasts for 2010, the city state is well on track to achieve its goal of 17 million arrivals in 2015.


PATA

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Cambodia, environmentally sustainable tourism to save Mekong dolphin

Over fishing, war, and pollution have decimated the dolphins, and only a few dozen of them are left. Environmentalists have begun a project aimed at contributing to the development of the villages and to saving the dolphins, but their numbers continue to diminish.

Phnom Penh (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Saving the few dozen freshwater dolphins still remaining in the Mekong River, and helping the local population by guaranteeing them a source of livelihood: this is the aim of the "ecotourism" project begun in the border area between Laos and Cambodia by the Cambodia Rural Development Team (CRDT), which has the twofold objective of protecting wildlife and providing an alternative source of income for the inhabitants of the villages.

For centuries, the waters of the Mekong River - which crosses China, Laos, and Cambodia, before reaching the ocean in Vietnam - were the uncontested habitat of thousands of freshwater dolphins. The Sino-Indian War and the increase of industrialization, together with high pollution levels, have decimated the species, only a few dozen of which survive; 71, according to the latest count provided by the World Wildlife Fund.

The village of Sambor, in the north of Cambodia, is one of the places selected by the CRDT as a model of environmentally sustainable development: tourists are given the opportunity to live in contact with the local population, to help the inhabitants protect the natural habitat of the dolphins, and to teach a little English to the children. The most frequently requested activities include well digging, sewer construction, and work in the fields.

The experiment promoted by the activists is intended to save the dolphins from extinction by radically changing the habits of the inhabitants of the village, who for decades have used aggressive fishing methods like explosives and high-capacity nets. Now the freshwater dolphins are seen as a resource to be "exploited" in order to attract foreign capital and tourism; the visitors pay 60 US dollars for three days in contact with nature, and the money is used to support the local population. In a country in which half the population lives on a dollar a day, the inhabitants of the village earn five dollars a day by providing food (two dollars) and lodging (three dollars) for the visitors.

But recent studies have demonstrated that if the benefit for individuals is beyond question, the same cannot be said for the dolphins: in spite of a small increase in their numbers in the initial phase of the project, it is not yet clear whether this is truly effective for preserving the species. Scientists affirm that a new and not yet identified disease is spreading rapidly, killing the offspring. Researchers fear that the new virus - caused by pollution in the water, infested with chemical agents and the runoff from gold mining projects - could soon lead to the total extinction of the dolphins.


Source Asianews


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Foreign arrivals down 30 percent in Bangkok: industry group

BANGKOK — Arrivals of foreign tourists in Bangkok are down 30 percent, the Association of Thai Travel Agents said Thursday, blaming the drop on a state of emergency declared three days ago in the capital.

Bangkok's international airport normally receives an average of 8,000 to 10,000 foreign visitors a day, the group's president, Apichart Sankary, told AFP. But arrivals now are 30 percent below average, he said.

"The political turmoil has badly affected the travel and tourism business in Thailand," Apichart said, adding that 13 countries have issued warnings about travel here.

He said the fall-off in arrivals began after Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declared a state of emergency in Bangkok on Tuesday following bloody clashes between rival activists that left one of Samak's supporters dead.

The decline is already costing Thailand 400 million baht (11.7 million dollars) a day in lost revenue, Apichart said. On an average day, the country earns about 1.5 billion baht from tourism.

"Most of the foreign visitors are tourists who expect to have a good time in Thailand. If the government cannot resolve the problems properly and quickly, we may see a weaker future for the business," he said.

Last weekend anti-government protesters calling for Samak's resignation shuttered three key tourist airports for two days, stranding thousands of travelers. Rail services in southern Thailand have also been disrupted for a week.

Apichart said the closure of the airport in Phuket alone caused losses of about 750 million baht. Tourism generates about six percent of the national economy, and Thailand had expected the industry to earn about 600 billion baht (17.5 billion dollars) this year.

But industry groups fear the ongoing protests could spark even more cancellations, just as the peak tourism season here begins in October.


By AFP


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Asian nations urge citizens against Thailand travel

SINGAPORE - Thailand's lucrative tourism industry faced a rash of cancellations after several Asian countries urged their citizens on Tuesday to avoid travelling there during the current political crisis.

South Korea and Singapore issued advisories urging citizens to avoid non-essential travel, while Australia and Taiwan advised nationals to be extra vigilant.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declared a state of emergency in Bangkok earlier on Tuesday, giving the army control of public order after a man died in overnight clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters.

Under the sweeping emergency powers announced on television and radio, all public gatherings in the capital are banned and restrictions imposed on media reports that 'undermined public security'.

Although the deployment of troops will come as welcome relief to the overstretched police -- who have been dealing with anti-government protests for over three months -- it raises the spectre of an army seizure of power less than two years after the military kicked out then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Samak later told a news conference the emergency action would not last more than a few days.

POPULAR WITH TOURISTS

Thailand is a hugely popular tourist destination for visitors from Asia and further abroad. It also draws hundreds of thousands of business visitors each year.'If Singaporeans do not have a pressing need to travel to Bangkok, they are advised to postpone the travel to a later date,' the Singapore ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.

'We ask those who plan trips to Thailand to please avoid travel there until the situation stabilises,' South Korea's foreign ministry said from Seoul.

The Australian government left its overall warning unchanged but urged travellers to take extra care.

'Travellers should exercise a high degree of vigilance at this time because of the political unrest,' the travel advisory from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said. 'There have been instances of violence including one reported death and several injuries. Further violence cannot be ruled out.

'You should avoid demonstrations, political rallies and concentrations of military personnel and follow any instructions issued by local authorities.'

China's Foreign Ministry has not yet issued any travel warning to the many Chinese tourists who visit Thailand, but on Monday the Ministry issued a notice on its website (www.fmprc.gov.cn) noting that the protests and threatened airport closures 'may create transport difficulties'.

'The Foreign Ministry suggests that Chinese citizens and groups travelling to Thailand pay attention to the situation and accordingly adjust their itinerary,' it said.


By forbes.com


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