January 8,2007 11:08 AM
By Kamarul Ariffin Mohd Yassin PHNOM PENH (CAMBODIA)
Jan 8 (Bernama) -- The first sight of Angkor Wat, a magnificent Hindu temple made of stone blocks and intricate stone carvings, leaves visitors awestruck. More astounding is the fact that the ancient temple has withstood the test of time since the 9th century.
A 14-member delegation from Malaysia led by Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai visited the temple during the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 (VMY07) campaign in Cambodia recently. Located in the Siem Reap district, about 308km to the north of the capital city of Phnom Penh, Angkor Wat was once the flourishing Hindu empire of the Khmer people under King Jayavarman II. The temple structure based on Khmer and Hindu architecture took 30 years to complete and was once the Khmer people's cradle of civilisation.
But the glorious distant past of the Indochina nation is overshadowed by a more recent dark past. The atrocities during the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979 under Pol Pot saw the annihilation of up to 1.7 million people or 21 percent of the nation's population then.
TOURISM IMPORTANT The civil war ended in the late 1980's and there was national reconciliation following the United Nations' sponsored election in 1993.Realising the potential of its tourism assets, the new government immediately adopted an open sky policy to lure foreign airlines and tourists. According to the statistics from the Tourism of Cambodia agency, more than 1.4 million Koreans, Japanese and American tourists visited the country in 2005.Angkor Wat remains the jewel of the nation's tourism industry. Several more historical temples like Bayon and Banteay-Srei, and the scenic beaches of Sihanoukville and the French colonial architecture in Phnom Penh complement the travellers' itinerary.
DARK PAST NOW MONEY-SPINNER The nation's dark past is now being capitalised as a tourism product. The famous 'Killing Fields' of Choeung Ek, located about 15km from Phnom Penh, serves as a grim reminder of the country's violent past. Cheoung Ek is one of the thousands of killing fields in Cambodia and a memorial made from 8,000 skulls of the victims of the genocide greet tourists. As for those keen on shopping, they can expect something different as Phnom Penh still lacks modern shopping centres like the ones found elsewhere in Asia. But the Toul Tom Poung or the Russian Market fulfills any visitor's needs. Other than souvenirs and Cambodian silk, the market is renowned for rubies, sapphire and emeralds. But there is a setback. The transactions are conducted in American dollars and not the local riel and this often annoys shoppers.
LAND OF OPPORTUNITIES The rising number of tourists and the political stability over the years has opened up business opportunities for the locals and outsiders including from Malaysia. Francis Anthony, 61, the WonderWorld Travel & Tours operator here told Bernama: "Though the development here is slow compared to elsewhere in Asia, there are clear signs of more commercial activities and better living standards for its people." Anthony who hails from Ipoh, Perak, has been residing here for the past 15 years and is married to a local, Tith Chanthary, 40. Today he considers Cambodia his second home."Initially, I started by providing transportation services but it drove me crazy when people started calling for the services way past midnight."Then I opened a tourism agency with my wife and we are now promoting Cambodia as a holiday destination to Malaysians and also the other way round," he said.
He thinks the foreign investment in the tourism sector has largely helped Cambodians to escape poverty. The tourism sector not only offered employment opportunities but also the market for locally-made souvenirs and precious stones.
VISIT MALAYSIA YEAR 2007 Looking at the new-found wealth of the Cambodians, Malaysia's Tourism Ministry targeted more than 15,000 Cambodian tourists during Visit Malaysia Year 2007. In 2005, 10,000 Cambodians visited Malaysia. The numbers are expected to increase based on the fact that during the first eight months of 2006, a total of 9,703 Cambodians visited Malaysia. MAS currently operates 10 weekly flights from Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh while AirAsia has seven including to Seam Reap .
The executive manager of Mekong Discovery, Kelvin Tan, 40, said the target could be achieved as more and more Cambodians were touring foreign lands."The Cambodians now have the buying power due to the political stability and economic growth and we should capitalise on this," said Tan who has been residing in Cambodia for about nine years now.
Tan, who hails from Kuala Lumpur, will be promoting Malaysian tour packages in Cambodia during Visit Malaysia 2007."We will also take the opportunity to woo the Korean, Japanese and European tourists who converge in the Siem Reap district to see Angkor Wat to come and visit Malaysia," he said. Tan feels Siem Reap can be utilised as a transit point for visitors to Malaysia as there is direct air service between Siem Reap and Kuala Lumpur operated by AirAsia.--
BERNAMA
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