A cruise ship carrying 300 foreign tourists paid a call at Sihanoukville port last week—a move officials and tourism professionals hope could signal a beneficial new trend for Cambodia, but one that is unlikely to take off until the southern beach town gets its own airport.
The US-made luxury ship Minerva, operated by the Destination Asia tour company, landed at Sihanoukville last Tuesday. The ship’s itinerary includes Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and its one-day stop in Cambodia.
It was the third time a Destination Asia cruise ship has stopped at Cambodia’s main seaport, and another ship is scheduled to land there next month.
The First Travel company has also brought two cruisers to Cambodia and is scheduled to bring another in October, its operations manager, Sok Chamroeun, said.
But the Minerva’s operator said Sihanoukville has a long way to go before it becomes an attractive and regular destination for cruise-takers, generally elderly travelers from Western countries.
The Minerva arrived at Sihanoukville International Port on Tuesday on a tight timetable: The travelers were to depart for Thailand at 9 pm Wednesday, just enough time for an eight-hour return bus trip to Phnom Penh, where they ate lunch.
“Sihanoukville is not ready to be a tourist destination,” said Yi Lynol, general manager of Destination Asia (Cambodia) Ltd. “It is not an attractive site.”
The main problem, Yi Lynol said, is the lack of a Sihanoukville airport, which makes it impossible for cruise travelers to see Cambodia’s main attraction, the temples of Angkor.
Plans have existed for years to build a Sihanoukville airport. The Malaysian company Ariston is currently contracted to build one, but the project has been stalled for a long time, angering Minister of Tourism Veng Sereyvuth.
One recent observer of the partially built Sihanoukville airport said the terminal looked nearly ready but the tarmac was far from meeting necessary standards.
Yi Lynol also said the process for issuing tourist visas at the seaport were inefficient and frustratingly slow, as opposed to the quick and easy processes of neighboring countries, including Vietnam.
Cruise travelers are a coveted market because they tend to be big spenders, officials say. Sok Chamroeun said a single cruise tourist could spend $15,000 during a pan-Asian journey.
“We could persuade plenty of tourists to relax for a while in Sihanoukville if the city had a few high-class hotels,” Yi Lynol said.
But Teng Huy, director of Sihanoukville’s Tourism Department, said his municipality lacks the means to develop tourist facilities such as resorts, entertainment, cultural events and sports facilities.
