Mad tourist rush threatens future of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat

Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2007 (EST)

The Cambodian Government and locals are reportedly concerned over the over-exposure of its famous Angkor Wat (Sun) temple to tourists.

The Angkor Wat temple is the biggest Hindu temple in the world. It is counted among the seven modern wonders of the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site visited by millions of tourists each year. Until 150 years ago, this whole city was undiscovered, being covered by thick jungles and overgrown trees! This temple is a wonderful example of the Hindu concept of the cosmos. The moat represents the oceans. The temple is the Mount Meru and the galleries, which lead up to the sanctum, are the various continents. The constant upward movement of the building from one gallery to the next represents the spiritual path of a human being. The final destination is the sanctum sanctorum where he/she comes face to face with divinity. Photo Credit: © Prabhakar Patil

Sydney, Apr.12 (ANI): The Cambodian Government and locals are reportedly concerned over the over-exposure of its famous Angkor Wat (Sun) temple to tourists.

There is a worry now that the droves of tourists visiting the heritage-listed site could grow from the hundreds at present to thousands.

The Sunday Telegraph quotes Khun Sokha, a tourist guide, as saying, "The ancients built the temples for religious purposes, not for such crowds of tourists to climb on."

"The harm is obvious. We are worried, but the people's livelihood depends on these tourists," he adds.

The Cambodian Government is caught in a Catch 22 situation. On the one hand, the Angkor Wat temple is at the very heart of Cambodia's identity, and on the other, is the fear that this famous landmark could be ruined by the onslaught of the nearly two million tourists that see it annually. The Government is recognizing the need to keep these precious ruins intact.

"The harm to the temples is unavoidable when many people walk in and out of them," says Soeung Kong, deputy director-general of the Apsara Authority, which oversees Angkor's upkeep.

It is also hard to ignore the nearly 1.85 billion dollars in revenue that tourism brought to the impoverished country last year.

"We are trying to keep that harm at a minimal level," Kong says.

The Angkor Wat has been on the UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1993.

Since then, tourist arrivals have risen meteorically, with the Government hoping for three million visitors to Cambodia by 2010. (ANI).