Saturday, 16 August 2008

Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos Join to Promote Tourism in the Triangle Zone

Posted on 16 August 2008
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 573

“Phnom Penh: Experts in tourism from state institutions from several provinces of Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos met together on 8 August 2008 in Gia Lai province, Vietnam, to seek methods to promote tourism in the Triangle Zone of the three countries.

“Mr. Tra Nut Seang, the director of the Ratanakiri provincial tourism office, who attended the meeting with other delegates from Mondolkiri and Stung Treng, said that this meeting focused on the Green Triangle Zone which covers ten provinces. These ten provinces are Ratanakiri, Mondolkiri, and Stung Treng in Cambodia, Attapu (also Attapeu ), Xekong (also Sekong ), and Salavan (also Saravane ) in Laos, and Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Đăk Lăk, and Đăk Nông in Vietnam. The meeting sought to identify the needs to promote tourism in each province in the Green Triangle Zone of Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos, like to find agreements on joint requests which had been sent to the governments of each country, to facilitate the provision of visas for tourists, and to construct infrastructure for tourism in this zone. As for the Cambodia side, Mr. Tra Nut Seang said that our country has difficulties of traveling, which makes it necessary to improve the national road from Ang Snuol, Kartie, to Mondolkiri and to the border with Vietnam, as well as a road from O Pong Moan in Ratanakiri to the border.

“After the meeting, the delegations will continue to visit the provinces of each country before making a final report about the requirements to donor countries.

“Mr. Thok Sokhom, head of the Heritage Triangle Zone program [for Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand], said that the Imperial Government of Japan announced in 2007 to grant approx. Yen 1,000 million, approx. US$10 million, to promote the development of tourism in the Green Triangle Zone. Out of this grant, Cambodia received approx. US$700,000 as the first step to construct tourist stations at a Cambodian-Vietnamese border crossing point and at a Cambodian-Laos border crossing point.

“To contribute to promote understanding about tourism, experts of the Mekong Sub-Region, including Gai Mary, Nec Rice, and Mr. Benny Rosenbloom [all phonetic] had cooperated with each other to write and publish a tourist guide book with 148 pages which presents tourist activities in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.

“Mr. Thong Khon, the Minister of Tourism, said that tourists visiting Cambodia during the first six months of 2008 increased by 13%, compared to the same period in 2007, which had more than 1.1 million tourists. Among them were 67,502 tourists from Thailand.

“Mr. Thong Khon predicted that tourists from Thailand will decline because of the disputes between both countries over the Preah Vihear Temple.

“However, the Minister of Tourism said that Cambodia plans to attract tourists to stay for longer periods and plans to promote developments of other tourist attraction areas. It should be noted that in 2007, the number of tourists to Cambodia increased to more than 2 million, earning approx. US$1,260 million for Cambodia, and employing more than 30,000 citizens. There were 360 hotels in 2007, and more than 300 tourist agencies.”

Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.7, #1720, 15.8.2008
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:Friday, 15 August 2008

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