Tourism Indochina: Cambodian goods to be certified

Cambodian goods to be certified

The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) will begin promoting the Institute of Standards of Cambodia (ISC) certifications by the end of 2012 in an effort to educate people about certified goods, according to ministry officials.

The program is in order to boost consumer confidence in Cambodian products, said Seng Chhang, director of the MIME’s Certification Department of the Institute of Standards of Cambodia.

“We are taking this measure to increase the consumer base of Cambodian products. We look at foreign countries and their consumers use their own countries’ products, whereas our products don’t have dates or stamps so foreigners and Cambodians don’t buy them,” he said.

There will be a program to educate people about poor-quality goods, although measures were not specified, he said.

“It will start, at least, by the end of the year. We have been arranging the funds and someone to assist us implement the program,” he said.

Heng Heang, president of Phnom Penh Small and Medium-Size Industry, said that these measures could be good, but there would be an impact on some producers who have sites or packaging that do not meet the standard requirements.

Source: Phnompenhpost/6July2012

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Tourism Indochina: World Tourism News: South Korean activist arrested after trip to North Korea

South Korean activist arrested after trip to North Korea

PAJU, South Korea: A left-wing South Korean activist was detained on Thursday when he returned home from an illegal trip to North Korea and a meeting with its ceremonial head of state, police said.

Security officials held Ro Su-Hui soon after he walked across the border at the truce village of Panmunjom. Seoul says he faces stern punishment for his trip, during which he praised Pyongyang's rulers.

Ro, 68, went to Pyongyang on March 24 without Seoul government approval for a memorial service marking the 100th day since the death of long-time ruler Kim Jong-Il.

More than 1,000 conservative activists rallied with anti-Pyongyang placards at Paju near a border bridge leading to Panmunjom, demanding he be punished.

They torched a North Korean flag and an effigy of current leader Kim Jong-Un along with his portraits.

"Expel traitor Ro Su-Hui to North Korea!" one placard read.

Pictures provided by the South's unification ministry showed about 300 North Koreans waving flags on the northern side of Panmunjom as Ro, wearing a grey suit, crossed the frontier watched by border guards.

The North Koreans gave him "a hearty send-off", shouting slogans such as "Down with the (President) Lee Myung-Bak group of traitors!", according to the North's official news agency KCNA.

He was taken to a police station at Paju, police said.

The detention came hours after police raided Ro's home and office in Seoul to seize computer hard discs and documents.

He could face up to 10 years in prison under a tough security law that penalises pro-Pyongyang activity and bans citizens from going to the North without approval.

Ro is a member of pro-Pyongyang group the North and South headquarters of the Pan-national Alliance for Korea's Reunification, which said the visit was justified.

It accused Seoul of trying to use his return to eliminate "progressive pro-reform forces" before presidential elections in December, and called Ro's visit "a token of due courtesy" for North Koreans during the mourning period for the late leader.

In an interview on Tuesday with the North's official news agency, Ro praised Jong-Un for "pursuing politics of love for the people and posterity".

"In the North the people are regarded as Heaven, children as kings and the single-minded unity is stronger than nuclear weapons," he said.

He met the ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-Nam in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

Seoul did not send any representatives to Kim's funeral and approved a trip only by two private delegations, a decision strongly criticised by Pyongyang.

The North has ratcheted up hostility towards Seoul for perceived insults to the late leader during the mourning period and other alleged slights.

Other activists visiting the North have been charged or jailed on return. Han Sang-Ryol, a pastor, was sentenced to three years in jail last year for an unauthorised trip in 2010.

- AFP/de:5July2012

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Tourism Indochina: Tourism News: Hun Sen shoots down free-visa plan

Hun Sen shoots down free-visa plan

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday shot down calls for a free visa system for all ASEAN + 3 nations.

The proposal would have included the ASEAN nations as well as China, Japan and South Korea.

Minister of Tourism Thong Khon made the proposal during a Tourism Ministry meeting at the Chaktomok Conference Hall in Phnom Penh.

The Cambodian government has already produced a framework on free visas for all ASEAN nations other than Brunei and Myanmar.

Questions remain over how Cambodia will deal with the “+3” countries in terms of visa status.

“We cannot exempt them [Japan, South Korea and China]” Hun Sen said during the meeting.

“For instance, if we offer free visas for country A and they do not offer free visas to us, how should we respond?”

“Then country B will make the same request: because we offered free visas to country A, why not country B?”

The Prime Minister said that if Cambodia could come to a reciprocal agreement with the three regional neighbours, he would okay the plan.

“We should not only look at the ASEAN + 3 nations, we should look into the whole jungle,” he said.

Revenue from visas would diminish, forcing the tourism sector to drain the national revenue, Hun Sen said.

The amount of revenue that would be lost from a free ASEAN + 3 visa system would not be small, he said.

In fact, Hun Sen said, a free visa system for the “+ 3” nations could end up costing Cambodia millions of dollars in revenue.

Thong Khon could not be reached for comment.

The ASEAN + 3 nations were countries with large populations, and offering them a free-visa system when they did not offer one in return would result in a loss of revenue, Ang Kim Eang, president of Cambodia’s Association of Travel and Agents, said.

The number of tourists from ASEAN + 3 sharply increased. Tourists from Korea rose 35.2 per cent, supplying the second-largest number of tourists to Cambodia after Vietnam.

Source: Phnompenhpost/5July2012

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Tourism Indochina: Angkor Wat bans tacky souvenirs

Angkor Wat bans tacky souvenirs

It was announced last week that smoking would be banned at Angkor temple sites, and this week local authorities added that there will also be a clampdown on tacky souvenirs and photos.

On Tuesday, Bun Narith, director general of the Apsara Authority told Insider that the smoking ban had been introduced to protect temples from ashes and fire and show respect to the monuments, the culture and the religion, as well as to promote health and comfort for visitors.

He added that the Apsara Authority prohibits the sale of certain “tacky” souvenirs such as ashtrays or drinking glasses that contained a sketch of the temple at the bottom of the glass.

Also prohibited is the practice of vendors superimposing photographs of tourists on an Angkor Wat background that is then printed on a souvenir and sold.

Apsara Authority director general Bun Narith said such sales practices and prohibited souvenirs were damaging the Khmer identity and pride and must stop immediately.

Source: Phnompenhpost/22June2012

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Tourism Indochina: World Tourism News: Thailand ranks as No. 1 outbound destination for Indian travelers

Thailand ranks as No. 1 outbound destination for Indian travelers

Indians are known to travel year round and it is no surprise that the most visited destination by Indians is a 365-day holiday spot like no other – Thailand.

For the calendar year 2011, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has revealed that a record number of 917,832 Indians travelled to Thailand in comparison to 791,185 in 2010, making it the number one destination for Indians with a growth rate in excess of 16% in 2011. In 2012, this growth is continuing with 210,722 Indians visiting Thailand from January to March, representing an increase of 1.64% over the same period in 2011.

With its wide range of “value for money” offerings that include leisure sports, fine dining, adventure services, wellness and quality hotels and resorts, Thailand has been consistently increasing in popularity among Indians from all parts of the country. Travel agents, tour operators and even niche segment travel trade members have actively been working with the Tourism Authority of Thailand in launching new packages that encourage first-time and repeat travelers. Packages that included destinations such as Pattaya and Phuket have now been further enhanced to include new beach destinations such as Ko Samui, Hua Hin and Krabi. Mountainous regions of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai have also become attractive for the corporate sector in addition to adventure seekers.

Commenting on the remarkable growth, Mr. Sethaphan Buddhani, Director for Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Mumbai said, “We are delighted to have welcomed so many Indians to our nation and look forward to welcoming even more during 2012. We have achieved this consistent growth due to our result-oriented marketing strategies that are matched with performance indicators. We are also grateful to the Indian travel trade fraternity which has been actively supporting our initiatives through joint promotions that showcase Amazing Thailand as a value-for-money destination.”

Mr. Buddhani further elaborated, ”We realized the need to tap niche segments as the Indian market has matured over a period of time. As a result, we now tap niche segments such as golf, luxury holidays, weddings, medical, and Bollywood tourism.”

Commenting on TAT’s success strategy, Mr. Buddhani stated that the Tourism Authority of Thailand focused on educating travel agents, tour operators, wedding planners and media on new and exotic destinations in Thailand through ground-based marketing activities that include workshops, seminars and educational tours. Augmented by exhibitions, joint promotions and mass communication through a wide range of media that include outdoor, print, electronic and online, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has been able to effectively position Thailand as a ‘Value for Money’ destination.

Source: TravelDailyNews/14May2012

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Tourism Indochina: More tourists set to spend money in Asia Pacific

More tourists set to spend money in Asia Pacific

SINGAPORE: Asia Pacific is set to get a tourism boost according to forecasts based on an international index released Monday.

The MasterCard Worldwide Global Destination Cities Index, that ranks cities in terms of the number of international visitor arrivals and cross-border spending by visitors in destination cities, placed Bangkok top on the list for tourist spending.

The Thai capital is also world's third destination city in terms of visitor spending for 2012, with an estimated forecast of US$19.3 billion.

Singapore was ranked second in Asia Pacific and fifth in the world, with an expected visitor spending of US$12.7 billion.

In addition, the index forecast that Singapore would see more tourists from Jakarta, Hong Kong and London -- with Londoners tipped to spend the most.

The index, which is used as a barometer for understanding the global economy and the flow of commerce across the world, is compiled using international flight and flight capacity data, and not based on MasterCard volumes or transactional data.

- CNA/wk/18June2012

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Tourism Indochina: Myanmar becoming must-see travel spot

Myanmar becoming must-see travel spot

Chiang Rai, THAILAND: As Myanmar opens its doors to travellers from around the world, the country's officials are planning their approach to tourism.

Landmark reforms now mean that Myanmar is becoming Southeast Asia's newest must-see destination.

It's something tourism officials welcome but understand the challenges that lie ahead.

Kyi Kyi Aye, advisor, Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, said: "Myanmar has the ambition - we are ambitious people - to promote and we want to endorse and promote responsible tourism as a pathway towards sustainable tourism."

Myanmar received around 400,000 tourists last year and that number is expected to grow 35 per cent or more in 2012.

Myanmar has an opportunity that few countries have had - they're able to build their tourism sector practically from the ground up, taking advantage of their neighbors failures and successes.

Capacity building and infrastructure upgrades have already begun.

With international standard hotel rooms in high demand, rates have doubled or tripled in the city of Yangon.

In an exclusive interview with Channel NewsAsia, U Htay Aung, Deputy Tourism Minister, cautioned businesses that tourists could just as easily be turned off by the jacked up prices.

"Because tourists cannot pay like that. If prices are what we call skyrocketedly [sic] up, it will be very difficult for tour operators to sell the prices. They have to be aware of the ethic[s] between the tour operators and the hotels."

And along with high prices comes the fact that the country's banking system can't process credit cards and instead transactions are routed through Singapore.

But officials reassured participants at this year's Mekong Tourism Forum in Chiang Rai that the travellers will be able to use credit cards freely within two months.

They said getting a visa will be easier as well.

The goal for the tourism sector, Kyi Kyi Aye said, is to make Myanmar not just a better place to visit, but a better place to live.

- CNA/ck/ 15June2012

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