Hoping to boost tourism in the wake of worldwide travel downturns following October’s devastating Bali car bombings, the government recently proposed creating a Web site covering the entire Asean region, Minister of Tourism Veng Sereyvuth said on Thursday.
The proposal, sent to the Asean secretariat, would establish a Web site to provide information on regional safety and security that could counteract travel warnings from countries such as Australia and the US, Veng Sereyvuth said.
“If we have the Web site, we can avoid the travel warnings,” he said, speaking at a press briefing for the Asean Tourism Forum, scheduled for Jan 20 to Jan 27.
In the aftermath of the Bali attacks, Australia, the US and other nations issued travel warnings for many regional countries—a move that damaged the area’s booming tourism industry, he said.
The minister said an Asean member would be chosen to manage the site, but did not elaborate.
The Asean Tourism Forum will bring top tourism officials from Asean countries, 1,600 buyers and at least 100 journalists to Phnom Penh, officials said. This is the first time Cambodia will host the event, and officials estimate that $1 million will be spent on the gathering.
At least 400 booths have been assigned to tourism officials, travel agencies and airlines, and buyers can expect a diverse selection of tourism products and services to be on offer, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
Travel Exchange, the main event at the ATF, is a “trade-only mart” for people in the tourism industry to trade products and meet buyers from around the world, according to a travel brochure put out by the government.
Although the forum will attract a huge number of regional and international tourism industry participants, Veng Sereyvuth said that Cambodia is trying to attract Cambodians living overseas to return to their homeland.
“We have to continue encouraging more Khmers overseas to visit Cambodia regularly,” he said.
