Angkor guides turn into porters

September 3, 2012
By Wanwisa Ngamsangchaikit
TTR Weekly

SIEM REAP, 3 September 2012: Authorities are worried that tour guides are being treated badly by Korean interpreters who fill in when there are no Korean speaking tour guides available.

Provincial tourism authorities claim registered tour guides are being relegated to the role of porters. They admit there is a shortage of guides who can speak Korean, but they reiterated the law clearly stipulates the job of guiding must be carried out by Cambodians and not by foreigners.

Local guides blame the so-called Korean interpreters who they claim treat Cambodian guides badly and ask them to carry water and umbrellas for tourists. The interpreters explain the significance of the temples directly to Korean tourists rather than just translating on behalf of the guide.

They claim it is quicker and more efficient than going through an non-Korean speaking guide who is technically supposed to the lead role in explaining the historical sites.

Ministry of Tourism general director, Tith Chantha, said the solution lies with the Cambodian guides who need demonstrate a degree of “comportment that will engender respect from the interpreters”.

However, he added that the law stated all tour guides must be Cambodian and not recruited from other nationalities such as Korean.

“The government has to protect the rights of Cambodian tour guides. Interpreters are just people who work temporarily when they are needed to assist the guides and not the other way round.”

Mr Chantha cited: “The ministry provides interpreters with legal paperwork to work for just six months to translate what the tour guide say when there are no Korean-speaking Cambodia guides available to serve a group.”

The dramatic increase in the number of Korean tourists exacerbated the problem, he said.

Angkor Wat tourism will face more problems as arrivals grow steadily towards a 7 million target. There are 4 million visitors to the temple annually, but the authorities are encouraging more to achieve economic goals, possibly at the expense of culture and environment.

There are only 123 Korean-speaking guides available at Angkor Wat, well below what is required to serve the market.

The market is one of a strongest after Vietnam and China. During January to June this year, Koreans led the field with 190,400 visits increasing 49% followed by Vietnam with 127,890 visits (+12%) and China with 78,430 visits (+51%).

Nevertheless, the general director insisted: “Please do not confuse the issue and think that Ministry of Tourism will allow Korean people to work as guides in Cambodia. They are to work as interpreters only…only Cambodians can work as guides because they know clearly about Cambodia culture and history. Therefore, Cambodia still needs to improve human resources and language skills such as Vietnamese and Russian to support market growth.”

In 2011, the temples attracted 1.6 million foreign visitors, an increase of 23%.

The Angkor archeological park is Cambodia’s largest cultural tourism destination located 315 km from the capital Phnom Penh. The temple was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1992.