Booming tourism market creates new demands, new opportunities
As Cambodia hosted the annual Pacific Asia Travel Association’s
Travel Mart this week, more than 250 tourism businesses from around the
world arrived in the capital to see what the Kingdom’s booming industry
has on offer.
From niche market providers including high-end business package
operators from the Middle East to larger mass-market tourism operators
servicing China, the diverse range of businesses in attendance suggests
that the Kingdom’s tourism industry is showing no signs of waning.
But different markets have different demands, and as Cambodia
endeavors to attract new travellers, sophistication and creativity is
required, while the country would do well to avoid pitfalls like the
so-called zero-cost concept, according to industry insiders.
But the demands of his clientele, who generally prefer direct flights
when going on a vacation and whose Islamic dietary needs mean Halal
food choices are required, have meant the Kingdom is not yet a major
tourist destination for travellers from the Middle East.
“It’s too early to say that Cambodia alone it is a market for the
Middle East, because the requirements for the Middle East markets are
quite different from any other markets; there are a lot of food
restrictions, transportation, shopping – they are a few of the
requirements for the Middle Eastern clients,” he said.
Neither is Cambodia yet on the map for travellers from India, which
has one of the fastest-growing outbound tourism markets in the world,
according to Deepak Rawat, vice president of holiday operations at the
Indian online travel site makemytrip.com.
But that could all change very quickly with greater awareness and
leveraging the popularity of neighbouring countries, Rawat said.
“Once Indians start travelling, they don’t easily adapt to things,
but the word of mouth is very strong. Once somebody travels, his friends
and families will do exactly the same itinerary, same destination; you
will see the number of tourists multiply,” he said.
“With the culture, the sightseeing and the shopping available in this
region, there is value for money. I think there is a clear opportunity
for more people to visit Cambodia, or at least take an extension from
Cambodia, because one of the large outbound markets from India is
Thailand,” he added.
With the government stepping up its campaign to promote Cambodia as a
beach destination, niche companies like Wicked Diving, which has a
presence in Thailand and Indonesia, were also in Phnom Penh this week,
scouting opportunities.
“Cambodia is not renowned as one of the best dive places, but it is a
good place to learn,” said Jo Marlow, Environmental Project Manager at
Wicked Diving.
With diving popular among people of all walks of life, enthusiasts
like to “tick the box” on waters from all over the world, and Cambodia
has the potential as a starting point to attract beginners, Marlow said.
In 2003, Cambodia received some 700,000 international tourists. A
decade on and that figure has grown six times to 4.2 million tourists in
2013.
But as tourism booms, particularly with the outbound numbers rising
from China, Oliver Moeschler, a senior vice president of global sales
and marketing at Kouni, one of the world’s largest travel service
providers, cautioned that Cambodia needs to be careful of the pitfalls
of what is known in the industry as the “zero cost concept”, where
tourism packages are sold cheaply by being subsidised by shops, which
tourists are made to visit during their holiday.
“It brings the quality down, because people think it is a cheap destination,” he said.
‘It’s ultimately not sustainable to the suppliers, because if they don’t shop, who is going to pay the bill?” he added.
Though not overly prevalent, zero-cost packages were an issue in
Cambodia’s tourism industry according to Ho Vandy, co-chair of the
Private-Public Tourism Sector Working Group. Vandy said yesterday that
the majority of the private sector is firmly against the concept and had
been working with the government to clamp down on it.
“Tourists don’t gain the experience that they should [with zero-cost packages],” Vandy said.
“It creates a very bad image for the country,” he added.
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