Koh Kong province’s mangrove forests have changed from being a source of charcoal to serving tourists who help to protect their biodiversity. The forests have now become a popular destination for Cambodian tourists. ...
Yem Yan, Peam Krasorb commune chief in Koh Kong, said gradually visitors have been coming from different... continue
AFTER finishing in the black every year since its launch in 2009, Cambodia’s flagship airline is forecasting a loss for the first time, in a situation that an industry analyst has described as “not necessarily typical”.
Cambodia Angkor Air’s (CAA) loss is projected to span two years, this year and the next, its chairman, Tek Reth Samrach, said. He declined to give a figure, saying it is “not that big”.
The expected loss is the result of the airline rapidly adding new international routes. This year the airline expects to add four new destinations – Guangzhou, Shanghai, Incheon, and Hong Kong – he said. …
CAA, launched in July 2009, had begun making profits in the same year. In December of that year, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that “this airline is making a profit because a lot of passengers are using it”, without disclosing figures. The airline’s load factor, according to figures from the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, had increased from 25 per cent in July to between 80 to 90 per cent. …
Nagacorp will build an underground road and retail space linking its casino complex in Phnom Penh to nearby Koh Pich, according to the announcement released by City Hall yesterday.
The underground road, which will be 23 meters wide and 447 meters long, will connect to National Assembly Street east of NagaWorld casino to the area in front of the north bridge crossing to Koh Pitch, according to the announcement, which was dated Monday and signed by Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema. …
City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said that all of the cost would be paid for by Malaysian-owned NagaCorp, which owns the casino, but he said he did not know how much the construction would cost or when it would be completed.
The underground development is part of larger plans, expected to cost about $369 million, to expand NagaWorld, Phnom Penh’s only licensed casino. …
Three days after it went out, power had yet to be restored to large parts of Siem Reap province yesterday, badly impacting local businesses in the popular tourist hub of Siem Reap City and seeing a rush of people to buy generators.
The power failure followed an accident on Thursday morning in which a truck collided with a pylon supplying electricity from Thailand – cutting off access to electricity to large parts of Siem Reap province. …
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday met with a large group of Chinese business executives visiting Cambodia to explore investment opportunities. …
To date, he said, the Sino-Cambodian relationship has reached the level of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation.
The premier said China has helped Cambodia in all fields including road and bridge construction, irrigation system development, and human resources development. …
According to a report of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, China is Cambodia’s largest investor. From 1994 to 2012, Cambodia had received 9.17 billion U.S. dollar investment from China. …
Meanwhile, the premier encouraged those businesspeople to consider investing in manufacturing industries in Cambodia in order to export finished products to China, saying that China has offered a 95-percent-tax exemption for Cambodia-made products. …
CAMBODIA will have direct flights to all ASEAN member states this year in order to promote stronger growth of the tourism sector in the Kingdom, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said Cambodia will become fully connected to the ASEAN region through direct flights to every country, with only Brunei and Indonesia remaining to be connected. …
The number of tourists from ASEAN countries to Cambodia rose 37.5 per cent year-on-year in 2012 to 1.5 million, compared to 1.1 million a year earlier, representing 42.2 per cent of the total tourist arrivals, according to the data from the Ministry of Tourism.
Cambodia on Wednesday launched a “one tourist, one tree” campaign, aiming to promote green tourism and environment protection, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said.
“We have already prepared tourism gardens in 11 provinces including cultural Siem Reap province, coastal Preah Sihanouk province and eco-tourism side in Kratie province. A garden has a minimum size of 5 hectares,” he said.”Tourists who love green environment, they can go and grow tree seedlings in those gardens.”
Tourism is one of the major four pillars supporting this Southeast Asian nation’s economy. He said the country greeted 3. 58 million foreign tourists last year, generating total revenue of about 2.2 billion U.S. dollars. “We predict that the sector will attract about 4 million foreign visitors this year,” he said. …
With a new Chinese-built container port on the Mekong River in Kandal province now operational, the existing port in Phnom Penh is undergoing renovations to shift its focus to the growing number of cruise ships docking in the capital, an official said yesterday. …
Eang Veng Sun, deputy general director of Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP), the company in charge of both the old port and the $28 million port in Kien Svay district inaugurated last month, said the newer port had taken on about 75 percent of the traffic in goods. …
In the latest clarification from the government on the subject of it’s new private airliner, a senior aviation official said yesterday that the French-made Airbus A320 is not yet the property of Cambodia, as ownership documents have not been finalized.
The 150-seat jet made its inaugural flight from Phnom Penh International Airport on Thursday. At the time, CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said the Airbus—which retails for about $91.5 million—had been bought new from the company’s assembly plant in France. …
Tourism officials have launched a new initiative called the Eco-Club designed to promote environmental awareness and improve the image of Cambodian cities through better management and disposal of plastic bags.
The program aims to recruit Cambodian youth to spread the word and educate the broader community on the benefits of clean cities. …
Thong Khon, minister of tourism, said the Eco-Club will be established at schools, universities, factories and radio and television stations. …
Cambodia is predicted to greet 4 million foreign visitors this year, an expected 12 percent rise year-on-year, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said Monday.
“Last year, we received 3.58 million foreign tourists, up 24 percent year-on-year, and generated total revenue of about 2.2 billion U.S. dollars,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a tourism conference. “This year, we believe that the country will attract up to 4 million foreign visitors.” …
Ang Kim Eang, president of Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, said the tourism growth from year to year was thanks to attractive tourism destinations, broad promotions, flight connections between Cambodia and foreign countries and visa exemptions among ASEAN member states. …
Ecotourism sites in the northeast of Cambodia last year saw visitor growth of 9.7 per cent – a total of 53,374 tourists – compared with 2011, an official said yesterday during the first Workshop on Northeast Ecotourism Development, organised by the Ministry of Tourism. …
Tith Chantha, director general of the Ministry of Tourism, said, “The northeastern area can attract about one million international tourists, while national tourists would reach five million by 2020.” …
Almost 85,000 visitors traveled to Kampot over the first three days of the Lunar New Year. …
The 84,917 visitors included 1,252 foreigners with the Bokor Mountain resort alone attracting 67,548 visitors including 1,004 foreigners, [a tourism official] said. …
The number of domestic and foreign tourists visiting Siem Reap’s ancient Angkor Wat temple and the Kingdom’s coastal areas increased sharply during this year’s three-day Lunar New Year. …
Data from the Siem Reap provincial tourism department show that 52,909 tourists visited Siem Reap during Lunar New Year – an increase of 7.17 per cent from last year. Of that number, 23,709 were foreign tourists, an increase of 16 per cent. Local tourist arrivals rose slightly, by only one per cent. …
Cambodia attracted 333,900 Chinese tourists last year, a 35 percent rise compared with 247, 200 Chinese visitors in a year earlier, according to a report of the Ministry of Tourism on Tuesday. …
“We see a steady rise of Chinese tourists to Cambodia from year to year, and we foresee that the country will receive up to 1 million Chinese by 2020.” …
Last year, Cambodia attracted a total investment of 263 million U.S. dollars from China, according to a record of the Council for the Development of Cambodia. …
A parliamentary delegation of Belarus led by Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko has paid a visit to Siem Reap Provide [sic] of the Kingdom of Cambodia on 12 February. …
During the visit Vladimir Andreichenko met with Governor of Siem Reap Province Sou Phirin and Chief of Siem Reap Provincial Council Chan Sophal. “They discussed ways to promote regional cooperation between Siem Reap Province and one of the regions of the Republic of Belarus,” the press service informed. They also discussed cooperation in culture and tourism. …
The parties signed a cooperation agreement between the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus and the National Assembly of the Cambodian Parliament. …
Major hotels are under the microscope after a labour rights group found that some have been failing to pass their entire service charge on to their staff, a violation of the Labour Law.
Dave Welsh, country manager of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity(ACILS), said yesterday that preliminary studies of large hotels conducted by his organisation showed many were not passing on all of their service charges.
“The bottom line is that these hotels cater to tourists. And if they are charging service charges, the implication is that all of it goes to workers,” he said, adding that Article 1.34 of the Labour Law said that mandatory service fees must be paid to the person in contact with the customer. …
Sok Narith, secretary-general of the Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers Federation, said the payment of service charge revenue to employees varied greatly depending on the hotel. …
Chartered direct flights from Taiwan to Cambodia were re-launched on February 7 by Taiwanese airline Far Eastern Air Transport, one year after the company abruptly suspended the flights over a dispute with its Cambodian airline partner over unpaid aviation fuel. …
Six flights have been organised from Taoyuan to Siem Reap and back for this month, the source added.
In February 2012, Far Eastern grounded a plane it leased to local charter airline Tonlesap at Taoyuan, saying the company owed about $105,000 in aviation fuel fees. This had left more than 200 Taiwanese tourists stranded for over 10 hours. During that period, Lou was Tonlesap’s director.
Meanwhile, Far Eastern restarted its services in April 2011 after announcing its bankruptcy and suspending all flights in May 2008 due to a series of financial crises. …
When Chinese and Vietnamese tourists will flock into Cambodia’s Siem Reap province for Lunar New Year, heightened demand for accommodation may make things tough, insiders say.
Ang Kim Eang, president of the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents, said that while many Chinese and Vietnamese tourists will enjoy their holidays in Siem Reap, the home of Angkor Wat, others may find that all the hotels and guesthouses are booked out.
Kim Eang also said that he had received information about an increase in charter flights from China and South Korea. …
Ngov Sengkak, Siem Reap’s tourism department director, said that Siem Reap received around 8,000 international tourists daily, but during Lunar New Year, there would be around 10,000 tourists per day entering Siem Reap. …
Cambodian Tourism Minister H.E. Dr. Thong Khon said: Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar had gained high growth of tourist arrival in 2012 for Asean region.
“Cambodia is continuing its work including promotion to the outside world to attract tourists to see the country.” he said this week. “We need to focus on infra-asia region especially like Chinese tourists, “He adds. Cambodia needs to attract 500,000 Chinese tourists in 2015. Cambodia expects to gain 5 million in 2015. …
