By Jonathan Ages
March 12, 2008
At sunrise every morning, crowds gather before Angkor Wat, the jewel of the fallen Khmer empire. Everywhere, are shutter-happy tourists, saffron robe-draped monks and Cambodian children hawking souvenirs. Everyone’s here for different reasons, but there’s one thing they can agree on—the view is spectacular.
As the rising sun silhouettes the temple, it’s easy to snap a gorgeous photo. What’s often difficult, however, is finding inspiration when surrounded by jabbering, fanny-pack wearing tourists and the entrepreneurs who live off their largesse.
That’s why visiting ancient ruins often feels like falling into a tourist trap. But in the best scenarios, tourist dollars feed local economies. They fund restoration projects and support public works projects, often making it easier for tourists to reach sites that used to be off the beaten path. “There was nothing in town,” says Asia Desk travel agency owner G. W. “Sandy” Ferguson of his visit to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat in 1987. “There were 20 guides, and the only foreign language they spoke was Vietnamese.”
Cambodia’s tourism industry grew 18.5 percent between 2006 and 2007; according to the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism, more than half of last year’s two million visitors stopped at Angkor Wat.
“There’s more money now,” Ferguson says. “People are doing better. It’s really well-organized. There are 400 or 500 people working as guides.”
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