#Cambodia - Sihanoukville ‘must be ready for returning visitors’, say experts

The Minister of Tourism said that business operators in Preah Sihanouk province and authorities at all levels need to be ready to welcome tourists returning after COVID-19 is defeated as the province improves its infrastructure.

Ministry of Tourism Minister Thong Khon said during the promotion of safety measures to tourism-based businesses in Preah Sihanouk province that the health and safety measures imposed by the ministry will ensure businesses operate well during and after the pandemic while authorities will play an important role to support stability.

“If all operators and authorities do not help each other during this time, our tourism sector will not be successful after and during COVID-19,” he said.

The tourism-based businesses and services that are being promoted during the pandemic are hotels and guesthouses, restaurants, tour transportation by both land and water, tourism communities and resorts.

The Minister has also urged the provincial relevant parties to keep checking and examining carefully the implementation of safety measures in order to ensure businesses succeed.

“In this situation, all levels of relevant parties, which are regarded as the government’s machinery to contain COVID-19 and support business activity, need to support the implementation of safety measures and provide cooperation in all forms,” he said.

Khon said while the coastal area comprises mixed services and businesses, the sector also needs to diversify to new business models to comply with the current social and economic situation.

“During the pandemic, businesses and services need to be transformed into a digital solutions-based resource and improve productivity in order to make the sector more competitive in the crowded market,” he said.

The Kingdom’s coastal Sihanoukville, where Chinese nationals dominated nearly half of businesses before the COVID-19 outbreak, have been seen as less attractive as a tourism destination by some since 2018.

With the rising number of Chinese nationals, roads have been damaged and security issues have declined because the province was swamped with casinos. Local visitors and other foreign tourists tended to avoid the province and went to other destinations such as Kep and Kampot.

However, the government is now working to improve the situation, pledging to transform the Kingdom’s only attractive beach into its former glory.

Preah Sihanouk Provincial Governor Kuoch Chamroeun said during the meeting that to boost the province’s social and economic development as well as making the tourism sector more sustainable, the provincial authorities have been paying attention to improving roads, beaches, water, electricity and waste management.

“We are preparing the tourism port by providing a standard tourism service. We are strengthening security and safety and public order. We will offer public transportation services and make the city clean to attract more visitors to the province,” he said.

Thousands of Chinese left the province after a directive banning all online and arcade gambling in the Kingdom last August and more have left because of COVID-19. The return of Chinese nationals is expected to help economic activity gradually rebound.

Source - Khmer Times

#Cambodia’s largest waterfall flowing between two nations

Located in Preah Vihear province, it is Cambodia’s largest waterfall with 26m of tiered rock-face and goes by three names – the Sopheakmit waterfall, the Lbak Khoun waterfall and the Preah Nimith waterfall.

Sitting slap bang on the Cambodian-Lao frontier, the upper Mekong waterfall is a spectacle to behold, as its turquoise-blue stream cascades over a gauntlet of limestone rocks, frothing and churning as it races downstream. 

Located in Preah Vihear province’s Preah Lean Community Forest, it is Cambodia’s largest waterfall with 26m of tiered rock-face, and goes by three names; the Sopheakmit waterfall, the Lbak Khoun waterfall and the Preah Nimith waterfall. 

Previously, due to poor infrastructure leading to the waterfall, both local and international tourists who wanted to see the beautiful view had to travel via Laos to visit the site. 

But a recently constructed road has now opened up this attraction for tourists and locals in Cambodia, says Kong Vibol, the provincial tourism department head. 

Previously, due to poor infrastructure leading to the waterfall, both local and international tourists tourists who wanted to see the beautiful view had to travel via Laos to visit the site. The water is at its most clear and calm between November and May.

“This cascade has been in Preah Vihear since the province was established in 1964. But at that time we did not have good infrastructure to reach there, it was quite hard to develop the community. 

“According to primary school books, we call it Lbak K houn.

But the name Sopheakmit emerged when Steung Treng province officials brought tourists to the place and famous singers began writing songs using the name Sopheakmit. 

The name Preah Nimith occurred when the local community worked with tourism department to change its name back to the original one,” Vibol says. 

He said that though the road is dusty and difficult, Preah Nimith waterfall welcomes visitors all year round, but between November and May, the water is at its most clear and calm.

To reach the waterfall, drive from Preah Vihear town on National Road 9 through the deserted Prey Long forest to Chhaeb II commune’s Dorng Plet village and continue on the dusty road roughly 65km from Steung Treng town.

Source - PhnomPenhPost 

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On Thai island #Phuket, hotel guests check out of plastic waste

For the millions of sun seekers who head to Thailand's resort island of Phuket each year in search of stunning beaches and clear waters, cutting down on waste may not be a top priority.

But the island's hotel association is hoping to change that with a series of initiatives aimed at reducing the use of plastic, tackling the garbage that washes up on its shores, and educating staff, local communities and tourists alike.

"Hotels unchecked are huge consumers and users of single-use plastics," said Anthony Lark, president of the Phuket Hotels Association and managing director of the Trisara resort.

"Every resort in Southeast Asia has a plastic problem. Until we all make a change, it's going to get worse and worse," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

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Established in 2016 and with about 70 members - including all Phuket's five-star hotels - the association has put tackling environmental issues high on its to-do list.

Last year the group surveyed members' plastics use and then began looking at ways to shrink their plastics footprint.

As part of this, three months ago the association's hotels committed to phase out, or put plans in place to stop using plastic water bottles and plastic drinking straws by 2019.

About five years ago, Lark's own resort with about 40 villas used to dump into landfill about 250,000 plastic water bottles annually. It has now switched to reusable glass bottles.

The hotel association also teamed up with the documentary makers of "A Plastic Ocean", and now show an edited version with Thai subtitles for staff training.

Meanwhile hotel employees and local school children take part in regular beach clean-ups.

"The association is involved in good and inclusive community-based action, rather than just hotel general managers getting together for a drink," Lark said.

CREATORS AND VICTIMS

Phuket, like Bali in Indonesia and Boracay in the Philippines, has become a top holiday destination in Southeast Asia - and faces similar challenges.

Of a similar size to Singapore and at the geographical heart of Southeast Asia, Phuket is easily accessible to tourists from China, India, Malaysia and Australia.

With its white sandy beaches and infamous nightlife, Phuket attracts about 10 million visitors each year, media reports say, helping make the Thai tourism industry one of the few bright spots in an otherwise lacklustre economy.

Popular with holiday makers and retirees, Phuket - like many other Southeast Asian resorts - must contend with traffic congestion, poor water management and patchy waste collection services.

Despite these persistent problems, hotels in the region need to follow Phuket's lead and step up action to cut their dependence on plastics, said Susan Ruffo, a managing director at the U.S.-based non-profit group Ocean Conservancy.

Worldwide, between 8 million and 15 million tonnes of plastic are dumped in the ocean every year, killing marine life and entering the human food chain, UN Environment says.

Five Asian countries - China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand - account for up to 60 percent of plastic waste leaking into the seas, an Ocean Conservancy study found.

"As both creators and 'victims' of waste, the hotel industry has a lot to gain by making efforts to control their own waste and helping their guests do the same," Ruffo said.

"We are seeing more and more resorts and chains start to take action, but there is a lot more to be done, particularly in the area of ensuring that hotel waste is properly collected and recycled," she added.

CHANGING MINDS, CUTTING COSTS

Data on how much plastic is used by hotels and the hospitality industry is hard to find. But packaging accounts for up to 40 percent of an establishment's waste stream, according to a 2011 study by The Travel Foundation, a UK-based charity.

Water bottles, shampoo bottles, toothbrushes and even food delivered by room service all tend to use throw-away plastics.

In the past, the hospitality industry has looked at how to use less water and energy, said Von Hernandez, global coordinator at the "Break Free From Plastic" movement in Manila.

Now hotels are turning their attention to single-use plastics amid growing public awareness about damage to oceans.

"A lot of hotels are doing good work around plastics", adopting measures to eliminate or shrink their footprint, said Hernandez.

But hotels in Southeast Asia often have to contend with poor waste management and crumbling infrastructure.

"I've seen resorts in Bali that pay staff to rake the beach every morning to get rid of plastic, but then they either dig a hole, and bury it or burn it on the beach," said Ruffo. "Those are not effective solutions, and can lead to other issues."

Hotels should look at providing reusable water containers and refill stations, giving guests metal or bamboo drinking straws and bamboo toothbrushes, and replacing single-use soap and shampoo containers with refillable dispensers, experts said.

"Over time, this could actually lower their operational costs - it could give them savings," said Hernandez. "It could help change mindsets of people, so that when they go back to their usual lives, they have a little bit of education."

Back in Phuket, the hotel association is exploring ways to cut plastic waste further, and will host its first regional forum on environmental awareness next month.

The hope is that what the group has learned over the last two years can be implemented at other Southeast Asian resorts and across the wider community.

"If the 20,000 staff in our hotels go home and educate mum and dad about recycling or reusing, it's going to make a big difference," said Lark.

Source - TheNation

Tokyo looks to entice foreign tourists to spend, enjoy nightlife

Businesses in Tokyo are looking to get foreign visitors spending their time and cash on the city's wide-ranging nightlife options.

Travel agencies are arranging special events for foreign tourists such as Japanese taiko drum performances, while hotels are extending their business hours to allow guests to socialize into the early hours.

But while efforts are being made to boost the after-dark economy, the lack of late-night public transport remains a major obstacle to tourists getting a taste of what Tokyo has to offer -- especially when the only option after 1 a.m. is waiting for the first train four hours later, or taking an expensive taxi to their hotel.

Since last year, travel agency JTB Corp. has joined with "Drum Tao," a world-famous Japanese taiko percussion and dance troupe, to entertain foreign visitors.

Performances of the traditional Japanese drumming were held in September and October 2017. Due to their popularity, the shows are being held from May through November this year, a fourfold increase in the number of performances from the year before.

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 According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, foreign tourists visiting Japan last year spent about 150,000 yen ($1,370) per person. This is well below the 200,000 yen amount required to hit the 8 trillion yen the government wants to be injected into the economy by tourists.

Designating tourism as a key growth area, the Japanese government aims to attract 40 million overseas visitors annually to the country by 2020, and 60 million by 2030.

In January, the Tokyo metropolitan government said it planned to survey foreign tourists on what they enjoy about the city's nightlife, including restaurants, theaters and sporting events, to better cater to their interests while encouraging them to part with their cash.

The central government is joining Tokyo's efforts to increase spending by tourists at night. Despite the rapid increase in tourism, the average amount spent per traveler has declined in recent years.

Read Continue ....

#Vietnam - Lotus farm-tourism model faces market hurdles in Mekong

MEKONG DELTA — Nguyễn Văn Hơn has been a farmer all of his life. Now, in his mid 50s, he is working as a tour guide.  

He is one of the first lotus farmers in the Mekong Delta to adopt the lotus–ecotourism model as an alternative to growing an unsustainable third rice crop every year (called the autumn-winter crop).

The owner of 4ha of lotus in Mỹ Hòa Commune in Đồng Tháp Province’s Tháp Mười District, Hơn began offering tourism services in 2013 when locals set up the Đồng Sen (lotus farm) ecotourism zone.

His business began to take off about two to three years ago, and during peak season from June to August, he welcomes around 50-100 tourists a day.

Visitors at his farm can pick lotus flowers and enjoy lotus specialties like salted roasted lotus seeds, rice cooked with lotus, sweet lotus dessert, and fresh lotus seeds.

“When I was growing only rice and lotus, my income was quite good, but when I started the tourism business, it definitely improved,” he said. “Last year, visitors from HCM City, Đồng Nai Province and even the central and northern regions came here.”

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Over a period of four years, his business expanded by four-fold.

The Đồng Sen ecotourism zone has now expanded to 11ha, with tourism services the main source of income for local farmers taking part in the model, according to local authorities.

In the first half of 2017, the zone welcomed more than 36,000 local and international visitors and grossed more than VNĐ2.1 billion (US$92,000).

Though the province has encouraged more farmers to join the ecotourism model, not everyone has the skills needed to offer good services or the finances to invest in infrastructure.

Trần Văn Kịch, who has a 4.5ha area of lotus flowers only a 20-minute riverboat ride away from Hơn’s farm, has decided to breed fish on his lotus farm to increase income.

But unlike the lotus–ecotourism model in which the lotus output is bought by tourists, farmers like Kịch who rely on selling lotus seeds are worried about the price fluctuations of lotus.

“I’m not sure if I can sell lotus flowers at good prices this year,” he said. 

As he only sells fresh lotus seeds, he has to rely on prices offered by traders who visit his farm to buy lotus seeds and flowers directly from him.

Sometimes traders are willing to pay VNĐ12,000 per kilogramme, but later change their minds to VNĐ10,000 or even VNĐ8,000 after the lotus is picked, saying the plants are not “beautiful”, according to Kịch. 

Farmers have to sell the lotus plants soon after they picked, he said, because they could lose freshness if they are stored overnight.

“Unstable prices discourage farmers,” he said. “Besides, it’s not easy to find lotus pickers since many of them have moved to other places to work in factories or at construction sites.”

When asked why he still grows lotus even though many neighbours have stopped, he said: “My first thought was that I am doing this for the environment.”

Lotus leaves can also be a good source of organic fertiliser, he said. 

“After harvesting lotus and preparing for the next rice crop, I only need to use half of the fertiliser volume compared to other rice fields,” he added. 

The income from selling fish also helps him cover the expenses of growing lotus.

READ MORE - VIET NAM NEWS

#Myanmar (Burma) - Tanintharyi tourism committee seeks IFC infrastructure support

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A tanintharyi development committee, operating under the tourism ministry and chaired by local tycoon Serge Pun, is seeking assistance from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for the upgrade of infrastructure in Myeik archipelago to boost sustainable tourism, a committee member told The Myanmar Times.

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The Myeik archipelago is made up of a cluster of more than 800 largely untouched islands that hold huge potential as a draw for international visitors.

“Tanintharyi region is quite big and wide and the infrastructure is not good yet, such as the airport facilities and transport to and from the islands. These are very important in the tourism development. Hence we need the assistance from international financial organisations such as the IFC. We also need to cooperate with local investors as well,” said U Khin Aung Htun.

The committee’s chair, Serge Pun, is the chair of Yangon-listed First Myanmar Investment (FMI) and Singapore-listed Yoma Strategic Holdings.

FMI is involved in both tourism and island development. Yoma Strategic and FMI are in the process of spinning off their tourism businesses into a separate Myanmar-tourism focused firm that is likely to be listed on the Singapore stock exchange. FMI also entered into a joint venture last year with Manaung Public Company Limited – which is majority-owned by Manaung Island residents – to develop that island’s infrastructure.

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They will invite international investors who are interested in the Myeik tourism industry and its infrastructure development, U Yan Win, chair of Myanmar Tourism Federation told The Myanmar Times.

“The Tanintharyi tourism development committee will also invite investors from other countries. We will always accept people if they invest according to the law.

“The government has already opened up places such as Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan for tourism investment. According to the ASEAN economic policy, people can feel free to invest if they want to,” he explained.

Of the hundreds of islands across the Myeik archipelago, the Myanmar Investment Commission has only opened 12 islands to local developers. Some have started to work on the projects. Others have simply acquired the rights to develop but have not started the projects so far.

The current hotel and hospitality capacity is not adequate for the demand from visitors. In response, the committee had decided to prioritise which islands should be allocated for hotel or resort projects, and which ones should be for conservation instead of tourism, U Khin Aung Htun said.

“The room number is not enough if they want to truly develop tourism. We need more rooms, diving camps and training schools for diving.

“Generally, travellers will tour around the area, visiting numerous islands and appreciating the scenery. Some will go fishing and undertake other activities. Many employment opportunities will be created as a result,” he added.

In January 2017, The Myanmar Times reported that the committee was drawing up a master plan for sustainable tourism in the region.

U Khin Aung Htun told The Myanmar Times that they will implement the master plan and are negotiating with the related ministries about upgrading the Kawthaung airport.

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#Myanmar, (Burma) Golf tourism needs long drive out of bunkers.

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Myanmar is far from a golf tourist destination despite having many courses in different cities, said U Phyo Wai Yar Zar, vice chair of Myanmar Tourism Federation.

Speaking to The Myanmar Times, he said that golf tourism has a potential niche market but the local courses are not up to the expectations of international golfers.

“We have to try hard if we want to make Myanmar a golfing destination. We can count the number of courses that are of international standard. But that number cannot be compared with other regional countries which have already developed the game and facilities,” U Phyo Wai Yar Zar said.

There are no more than 10 tour agencies offering packages, including golfing.

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In Vietnam, there are 32 international courses. Myanmar has about 60 courses in the whole country.

Daw Su Su Tin, vice chair of Myanmar Tourism Marketing Committee, said, “Some tourists have tried golf courses in neighboring countries. A few tours operators are offering a golf program in their itinerary but we cannot promote golfing tourism too much.”

“Myanmar has fine weather, not as expensive as other countries and has a huge potential for golf tourism development,” she said.

U Phyo Wai Yar Zar added, “People know Myanmar as a cultural tourism centre. Perhaps now is the time to promote traditional sport related tourism like chinlone (caneball) and other Myanmar sporting events.”

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“Chinlone as a sporting event cannot be found in other countries. Relevant government departments should make it popular as a tourism product,” he said.

“Also, the golfing market is for high-end tourists who are mostly big spenders. Other facilities such as high-end restaurants and amenities need to be developed,” he said.

Currently, there are no more than six or seven international fine dining restaurants in Yangon.

U Phyo Wai Yar Zar said, “We should first get the primary requirements done up and then continue with other things,” he said.

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“As I know, there’s no website, specific market figures on golfing for tourists. Concerned authorities need to build up the human capital first and the required infrastructure before promoting golf as a product,” he said.

“We have no information yet about the various courses and it is hard to find out who are those interested in golfing in Myanmar. Golfing is the best way to attract visitors as part of tourism,” U Phyo Wai Yar Zar said.

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Source - mmtimes

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Beijing and Phnom Penh think about becoming sister cities

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Phnom Penh and Beijing are in talks to become “sister cities”, chief of the Chinese Embassy’s political section Wang De Xin confirmed yesterday.

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According to Wang, representatives from the Beijing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, led by committee chairman Ji Lin, met with Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong on Monday to discuss the partnership.

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Reached by phone yesterday, the capital’s deputy governor, Khoung Sreng, said the objective of the meeting was for both countries to better understand each other.

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“The main purpose of being sister cities with Beijing would be to support each other . . . to cooperate economically and to promote cultural exchange,” he said.

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He added that one of the most important aspects of the partnership would be requesting Beijing’s assistance in areas such as infrastructure, training and the management and restoration of public spaces.

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Sreng noted that the focus of the partnership was not to attract foreign investment, but to work with Beijing in selecting local poor communities for targeted help, such as the building of homes.

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Source - PhnomPenhPost