Cambodia experiences a first half decline in tourist arrivals

Monday, 3 August 2009
eTravel Blackboard

Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism revealed an overall decline in the numbers of foreign visitors to the country in the first half of the year.

The number of South Koreans visiting Cambodia declined more than any other market, down one-third from 160,400 to 106,300.

The numbers of tourists from other key markets such as Japan, China, Thailand and Australia also declined between one-quarter and 10 percent.

Vietnam was the only country among Cambodia’s top six tourism markets to register a growth, with numbers up 40 percent to 147,700.

The ministry warned that the tourism downturn has had a pronounced effect on employees in the industry.

In a survey of 72 hotels the tourism ministry determined that between a third and a half of jobs had been cut at 12 hotels, and that working hours had been reduced by the same proportion at the remaining 60 hotels.

Around 300,000 Cambodians work in the tourism sector, with "between 50 and 60 percent" employed at hotels, guesthouses and other tourist accommodation.

Tourism Ministry Secretary of State So Mara announced Wednesday that the driving factor behind the slowdown was the global economic crisis.

But he is optimistic the clouds over the sector will lift, and said the government and private sector are working on strategies to reverse the decline.

"We expect that the number of tourists from these five countries will leap later this year because we already preparing to hire airtime in those countries to woo tourists," So Mara said.

The tourism ministry spent around US$340,000 on its "Kingdom of Wonder" ad campaign that aired on CNN in July last year.

So Mara said the ministry would replicate the campaign and buy airtime from TV channels in South Korea, China and Japan.

The ministry's campaign was welcomed by Luu Meng, the president of the Cambodian Hotel Association.

He said television advertising and this week's launch of national carrier Cambodia Angkor Air would both represent a welcome help.

"And we hope the number of tourists visiting Cambodia will pick up from the end of September, because that is the start of the tourism season," Luu Meng said.

He added that moves by hotel operators to cut staff numbers and working hours would work as a short-term solution to combat the problem of lower visitor numbers.

"There will be nothing to worry about provided they don't actually close down their hotels," he said.

Air arrivals dip 16pc in first four months

Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Written by Chun Sophal
The Phnom Penh Post

Tourism official blames losses on package tours, but says land entries offset drop from airports

THE number of tourists entering Cambodia by air has decreased by 16 percent during the first four months of 2009 compared with the same time last year, according to the Ministry of Tourism.

A ministry report states that 421,998 foreign tourists entered Cambodia by air during the first four months of this year compared with 503,328 during the same period in 2008.

It stated that 181,479 tourists flew in to Phnom Penh International Airport during this period - 30,045 down on last year - while 240,519 entered Cambopdia via Siem Reap, which was 51,285 down on 2008.

Kong Sophearak, director of the ministry's Department of Information and Tourism Statistics, said the decrease was due to the reduction in package tours stemming from the global economic recession.

"The decrease is not only a problem in Cambodia but it is a worldwide concern."

"Many tourists no longer want to spend as much money travelling into our country by air, which is an expensive means of travel," he said, adding that a 15 percent increase in entries by land and waterways had offset losses from air traffic.

Some 329,017 tourists entered Cambodia by land and air from January to April this year, compared with only 282,216 last year.

Chea Aun, director general of the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, confirmed that the number of tourists flying to Cambodia had decreased, but that "not one flight" had been cancelled.

Ang Kim Eang, president of the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents, said Monday that economic instability and political crises in Thailand were the two main causes for the decline.

"We think that the decrease is not only a problem in Cambodia but it is a worldwide concern, and we hope that the problem will improve soon," he said.

Cambodia's tourism numbers drop

Friday, May 15, 2009
Robert Carmichael
ABC Radio Australia

The number of foreign tourists visiting Cambodia has dropped in the first quarter of 2009 as the global economic crisis cuts the number of people travelling.

Overall the number is down just 3.5 percent to 622,000 which is better than the government had feared.

Cambodia has for a decade, relied on the expanding tourist trade as one of its pillars for economic growth.

A record 2.1 million people visited the country last year.

Our correspondent Robert Carmichael says tourists from richer countries such as Japan and South Korea have dropped by a third to around 100,000 visitors in the first quarter of this year.

Short term visitors from neighbouring Vietnam are now making up Cambodia's tourism numbers.

Tourism worker Ell Lavy, a 25 year old driver of a motorised rickshaw around the temples of Angkor Wat, says his monthly earnings have dropped from $US100 dollars to just $US70.

Mr Lavy says he used get two or three tourists a week but now he is lucky to have one.

Cambodia's Tourism Minister Dr Thong Khon says the government is targeting countries that are less affected by the global slump.

The Cambodian government is trying to revive tourist numbers by trying to boost short-haul flights from within the ten member ASEAN nation states, China, Japan and South Korea.

Dr Thong Khon says the global crisis has seen Cambodia downgrade its estimate of tourist arrivals for 2015 by around one fifth to 4 million visitors.