Asean Tourism Forum Sells Out of Booths

All 380 vending booths to be set up at the 2003 Asean Tourism For­um in January have been sold, bod­ing well for the success of the forum, tourism officials said Tues­day.

“I’m very proud to see that 100 percent of booths have been sold,” said Kousoum Saroeuth, di­­rector general of the tourism min­istry. The booths sold for be­tween $1,590 and $1,900 each, he said. The forum is to be held at the Cultural Center, across from the Buddhist Institute near Hun Sen Park.

Airlines and travel agencies are preparing for the tourist high season, which runs from November through April, by offering heavy discounts for participants in Jan­uary’s tourism forum.

Hoping to benefit from the tour­ism deals made at the con­ven­tion, hotels, airlines and local transport companies are gearing up to provide discounts for the estimated 1,500 forum participants, said Meng Hieng, president of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agencies. Some airlines are already offering 50 percent to 75 percent discounts, he said.

“I’m very sure that all airline and hotels will provide special dis­­count prices for the delegations,” he said. Delegates are ex­pected to include top national lead­ers, tour­ism officials, travel and tourism companies and journalists.

Several airlines are adding or expanding flights for the high sea­son. A Vietnam Airlines official said it will replace its 64-seat ATRs with 150-seat Boeing A320s on its flights from Hi Chi Minh City to Siem Reap. The airline runs four flights a day on the route.

“With the beginning of high season, more and more Korean and Japanese tourists will want to fly from [Ho Chi Minh City] to [Siem Reap],” the official said.

Indonesian-owned President Airlines said it plans to in­crease its Phnom Penh to Siem Reap flights from two to four a day. Bang­kok Airways said it will add one more flight on its Bang­kok to Phnom Penh route, starting Oct 27.

Royal Phnom Penh Airways President Prince Norodom Chak­rapong said his airline will keep the same number of flights but  his planes are filling up quickly.

Tourism arrivals by air into Cam­bodia jumped a surprising 30 percent in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year, despite a global downswing in tourism following the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US.

Ministry of Tourism officials are aiming for tourism to continue increasing 30 percent per year. They expect 1 million tour­ist visits in 2003, and the sector re­­mains a leader of economic growth.

Travel agents did not seem wor­ried that the bombing in Bali, Indonesia earlier this week would affect Cambo­dia. Apex Cam­bodia managing director Sathol Miyura said no tourists had canceled their Cambodia reservations since the blast.

“The target countries in Asia are Indonesia and the Philip­pines, not Cambodia, Laos or Vi­et­nam, because these countries are Buddhist,” he said. “The ex­plosion in Bali will not give a bad image to Cambodia.”

The tourism sector earned about $300 million last year, or  10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, Kousoum Sa­roeuth said. The garment sector earned about $1 billion.

In the next 10 years, the tour­ism sector is likely to catch up with the garment industry, Kou­soum Saroeuth predicted.

(Addi­tional reporting by Richard Sine)

 

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