Cambodia plan to develop tourism up to the year of 2020

About 1.3 million International visitors arrived in Cambodia in semester one, 2011 reported 13.4 percent upsurge comparing to the responding period in 2010 that the Kingdom received more than 2.4 million visitors and also increased more than 16 percent if compared to 2009, Tourism Minister announces.
It is expected that about 2.8 millions tourists pour in Cambodia by the end of 2011, 3 millions-2012, 3.5 millions-2013, 4 millions-2014, and 4.5 millions-2015. Importantly, Cambodia plans to receive 7 millions tourists in 2020 in which US,000-US,000 millions revenue is expected to generate annually, and lifting the Kingdom to be one of the world-class tourist destination, according to Cambodia’s Minster of tourism H.E. Thong Khon said at the sum-up meeting of the clean resort competition and the tourist communities improvement seminar on August, 16 in Phnom Penh.
Excitingly, H.E. Tith Chantha, Director-General, Cambodia’ Ministry of Tourism feel optimistic that by the end of 2011, Cambodia can absorb more than 2.8 millions tourists and possibly reaches 3 millions.
“Due to the Cambodia-Thailand frontier conflict has been formalized recently, more tourists can pour in Cambodia through Thailand border checkpoints, and there is high possibility that we can receive more tourists, not only 2.8 million, he believes.
The Minister points out six strategies have already optimized in order to reach the desired goals:

Develop Cambodia tours products,
market study and tourism promotion, included system hotels in Cambodia
connection and transportation facilitation to reach tourist sites,
tourism security system and tourism impact management,

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legal system and managing mechanism, and 6. human properties development serving in tourism.

Presently, according to Director-General, Cambodia’s tourism zones are updated from four zones (long been recognized) into six different regions due to the recognitions of newly discovered destinations:

Zone 1-Cultural attractions (Siem Reap, Phreah Vihear and its nearby areas)
Zone 2-Phnom Penh and its nearby provinces
Zone 3- The coastal areas (where recently recognized as member of the Club of World’s Most Beautiful Bays) Zone 4- The northeastern provinces (eco-tourism)

The two newly added zones are:
Zone 5- Provinces surrounding Tonle Sap Lake
Zone 6- The provinces along the link of Mekong River-Tonle Sap River, and Basak River,

1,883 Resorts are Blooming Entire Cambodia to Welcome Visitors Lately, Cambodia’s attractions have been reported to reach 1,883 resorts including 46 tourist communities which are blooming and potential for tourism development entire the country. Importantly, most of the sites are safe and available for visitations from locals and internationals, according to the latest report from the Cambodia’s Tourism Ministry.
 
Cambodian tourism has been prioritized in culture, and natural attraction sites, but new tourist products and resorts have been constantly developing to welcome first-time and revisit tourists such as cultural tourism, eco-tourism, agro-tourism, home-stay tourism, village-visit tourism, rural tourism, community-visit tourism, recreational tourism, sporting tourism, adventure tourism, and jungle trekking, ethnic tribe home stays, and so on.
 
Despites, Tourist communities’ developments are remarkably slow if compare to resort booming, but tourism communities which are people-based management will be more prosperous and beneficial, unlike resorts which are quasi-private ownerships, Minister of Tourism said.
 
It is fortunately that recently Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen decided to quit Titanium extraction at Gipath tourism community in Koh Kong to prevent negative impact to the attraction, and make the region a solely ecological tourism- based site to benefit the people so as to conserve the virgin nature there, according to the Minister.
He, anyway, proposed for the compilation of all resorts’ history in Cambodia making the documents useful for guides so as to easily develop the sites related to the background.
 
Responding to the optimism to maximize benefits from tourism, he, however warns to properly mange the negative impacts spread out by this smokeless industry on economy, culture, nature, and society as well. “In conforming to harvesting the fortunes, we have to ensure that our economy, culture, nature, and society are not negatively affected from tourism as well…”
He said adding that the expensive airfares really contribute widely to preventing tourists to decide for their stay in Cambodia.
But recently, the Kingdom has opened many direct flights from far and near-by countries to bring those peoples to Cambodia with cheaper travelling airfares.
 
Anyway, it is worth mentioning that Cambodia on July 28, 2009 established a movement of clean resort and good services to enhance tourism industry, and appreciated result can be notified since than on mainly the sanitation improvements on sites.
To effectively promote and ensure hygiene at those resorts, Ministry of Tourism sent requests to all provincials and cities governors to help ensure hygiene, deploy permanent cleaners, and build public restrooms into resorts, “The hygienic installations on resorts are the critical step we have to urge for completions in order to ensure the prosperity of this movement…,” Minister added.
 
In conform to the white gold, i.e. the rice; the government determines Tourism as the green gold, which benefits largely to the nation too. “Revenue gaining from tourism will be immediately injected into the economic pulse on the free-market economy manner by formulating professions for the people, and contribute vastly into the nation’s macro economic context,” he stressed.

Source: ArticlesBase.com

Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2010 – Held by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC)

For the last six years, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has held the “Tourism for Tomorrow Awards.” With the ever-increasing concern over the environment and the planet’s dwindling natural resources, as well as the need to preserve cultural and historical resources, the “Tourism for Tomorrow Awards” give recognition and confirmation to those organizations that are leading the tourism industry in promoting responsible tourism.

 

Established twenty years ago, the WTTC is comprised of the world’s foremost business leaders in the Travel and Tourism industry, including some 100 Chief Executives. One of the organization’s main goals is to raise awareness of this mega-industry, which employs over 200 million people worldwide, and generates almost 10% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP).

 

One of the most important functions of the WTTC is to conduct in-depth research regarding tourism’s impact on various economies around the world. Over million has been invested into this research, and one outcome has been the creation of a new standard for the organization’s “Tourism Economic Impact Data and Forecasts” –already adopted by the United Nations.

 

Every year, the winners of the “Tourism for Tomorrow Awards” are announced at the Global Travel and Tourism Summit. The summit is an international gathering of the world’s highest-ranking leaders in the Travel and Tourism industry. Board chair members, chief executives and high-ranking government officials meet at this annual convention to discuss how travel and tourism are related to economic growth around the world as well as the issues of sustainable development. The 2010 Summit was held in May in Beijing, China at the National Center for the Performing Arts.

 

The awards first made their appearance in 1989, established by the Federation of Tour Operators. Their goal was to encourage industry members to work towards environmental protection. Three years later, British Airways began presiding over the Awards, and expanded the range of topics to include a wider variety of sustainable tourism issues.

 

The winners each year are chosen by judges who include world-renowned experts on the subject of sustainable development. The thoroughness and seriousness with which these experts conduct the candidate’s investigation has won the Award’s international respect by the media, governments, and members of the industry.

 

The awards are divided into four different categories: Destination Stewardship Award, Community Benefit Award, Conservation Award and Global Tourism Business Award. In each category a winner and two finalists are chosen.

 

The Destination Stewardship Award is given to a town, state, region or country, where the tourism network has been able to provide successful sustainable tourism, encompassing all aspects including economic, environmental, social and cultural, as well as the ability to engage members from across various sectors and involve them in the sustainable tourism ideals.

 

The Community Benefit Award is given to an initiative or ongoing business that has shown proven benefits to the local community and its residents. This can have a number of outplays, including helping to build the community’s infrastructure, teaching skills to increase knowledge and potential for advanced employment, or any other ways and means of providing value within the surrounding local community.

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The Conservation Award is given to a business or an organization that can prove they have contributed to conserving some form of natural heritage, whether by preserving a natural reserve, aiding wildlife, protecting a piece of land, or any other means.

 

The Global Tourism Business Award goes to one of the industry’s large companies – hotel chain, airline or cruise line, etc. – with at least 200 employees, and the prerequisite that it operates in two or more countries. Here the award recognizes a company that has developed and implemented best sustainable tourism practices at the level of a large, international company.

 

The judging process to select the winners of the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards involves three important steps and include between 15 and 20 judges who hail from a variety of backgrounds with a range of expertise in the global travel and tourism industry.

 

After receiving all applications, the WTTC checks each one to ensure that the applicants have complied with the rules, and then sends them on to the panel of judges. The judges are divided into four subcommittees – one for each of the award categories – and each committee evaluates the candidates on their own and then together via teleconference. From these sessions, three finalists are chosen for each category.

 

Each of the finalists is inspected by experts in sustainable tourism, who visit the finalist at their place of business to confirm that all information they have presented in their application is true and correct. These experts also meet with members of the surrounding community, to hear further input about the organization’s efforts in promoting sustainable tourism. The results of these on-site inspections become part of the final evaluation process in selecting the winners.

 

A selection committee, composed of five judges, and led by the Chairman of Judges, Costas Christ, a brilliant visionary and exemplary public speaker and authority on sustainable tourism, reviews the recommendations by the judges regarding the finalists, along with the applications themselves and the reports by the on-site experts. This committee ultimately comes to a final decision as to who the winner is in each of the four categories.

 

This year’s winners in each of the four categories were:

Destination Stewardship Award: Botswana Tourism Board

Conservation Award: Emirates Hotels & Resorts, UAE

Community Benefit Award: Whale Watch Kaikoura, Ltd., New Zealand

Global Tourism Business Award: Accor, France & Global

 

The Botswana Tourism Board, established in 2003, has the stated mission of working towards the sustainable usage of tourism resources and the development of Botswana into a sought after destination for international tourism, thus helping to build the national economy.

 

The Emirates Hotels and Resorts have been active for the last ten years with the “Emirates Conservation Programme” to preserve local wildlife, flora and fauna that face extinction due to the development of industry. The Emirates Hotels and Resorts worked hand in hand with the Dubai government to create the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, only the first of what become a number projects to offer responsible, sustainable tourism, including Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa, and the soon to be established Cap Ternay Resort & Spa. Their resorts occupy a small percentage of the surrounding natural landscape, and are devoted to managing the wildlife conserves and marine life which protect these species.

 

Whale Watch Kaikoura, Ltd. is a marine-based company that offers tourists the opportunity to experience whales from up close through their whale-watching expeditions. Tourists have the opportunity to encounter not only whales but fur seals, dolphins and wandering albatrosses, an endangered species. This award-winning company is owned and operated by the Kati Kuri – an indigenous people that are a Maori sub-tribe of the Ngai Tahu tribe. Now over twenty years old, Whale Watch offered and continues to offer employment to the Maori people, and its success stimulated the economy of Kaikoura and brought vast opportunities for employment and investment in the area- all surrounding the idea of working with, not against, nature.

 

Accor, France & Global is a true industry leader, Europe’s leading hotel manager, operating in 90 countries and employing nearly 150,000 people. The Group includes some 15 brands, from the most exclusive to economy level, and includes well known names such as Sofitel, Pullman and Novotel. The philosophy of the group, “As guests of the Earth, we welcome the world” illustrates the company’s belief not only in hospitality but in having a profound respect for the members of different cultures. They are equally determined their businesses will have a positive effect on the surrounding communities, aiding in the health, economic and social development.

 

For the third year in a row one of the two principal sponsors of the “Tourism for Tomorrow Awards” was The Travel Corporation (TTC), and its foundation: The Travel Corporation Conservation Foundation. The Travel Corporation is a leading group of companies specializing in travel, tourism and leisure activities.

 

Of great importance to this company is helping to do its part to protect and preserve the earth and encourage sustainable tourism around the globe. In addition to sponsoring the awards this year, the Travel Corporation has several initiatives on the go, which include collaborating with the World Wildlife Fund, the University of Glasgow and the National Trust. Their mutual projects have been established as far as Australia, Egypt, the United Kingdom and various locations in Europe.

 

According to Brett Tollman, the President and Chief Executive of The Travel Corporation and one of the founders of the Travel Corporation’s Conservation Foundation, “Our diverse projects are empowering indigenous communities to protect a small part of their country and culture, uncovering and preserving historical sites and minimizing pollution and the impact of tourism to precious waterways such as the Nile, just to name a few. Through The Travel Corporation’s Conservation Foundation our brands will continue to fund this important work.”

 

Brett Tollman, who has an extensive history with The Travel Corporation and its subsidiaries, is the company’s President and Chief Executive. With over three decades of experience in the travel and tourism industry, Brett Tollman spearheads the company’s international offices. His years of experience in providing practical management techniques, combined with his intense dedication to preserving the environment and respecting individual cultures and lifestyles, have led him to make several strategic and unique plans for the coming years. This will culminate in, among other things, some very exciting and original travel opportunities for the clients of The Travel Corporation and its companies.

Source: ArticlesBase.com