Photo by Nelson Alcantara (Copyright 2015)
SIEM REAP, Cambodia (eTN) – The prime minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, graced the opening ceremony of the first ever joint conference by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on tourism and culture. In his speech, he talked about he current state of affairs for his country's travel and tourism industry.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said: “The conference is a great opportunity for national and international institutions, experts and researchers who are in charge of culture and tourism affairs to discuss and share experience to identify new measures for promoting the development of culture and tourism sectors in the coming years in Cambodia, as well as the region and the world.
Accoding to him, the joint UNWTO/UNESCO event “will provide us with broader ideas and views from global perspective that will remind us to heighten our attention to the development of culture and tourism sectors for the cause of new results for the society and economic growth base for the present and the future.”
On his country’s travel and tourism, he said: “During the 1990’s, thanks to the win-win policy. Cambodia can achieve not only national unity, national sovereignty, territorial integrity and full peace, but also high and sustainable average economic growth rate of 7.76% per annum, In 2014, Cambodia’s economy is projected to grow not less than 7% in 2015 and in the medium term. “
According to PM Hun Sen, tourism, which is considered “Green Gold” in Cambodia, has experienced significant growth. “In particular, in 2014, Cambodia received 4.5 inbound tourists, an increase of 5.9 % compared to 2013, and US$3 billion in terms of revenue. The number is projected to reach 5 million [tourists] in 2015.”
The PM added that Cambodia is going to be receiving 7.5 million inbound tourists by 2020 and generate US$5 billion in revenue and 80,000 jobs.
PM Hun Sen also said: “Cambodia’s tourism campaign of ‘Cambodia: Kingdom of Wonder’ and the competition movement f ‘Clean City, Clean Resort, Good Service’ have greatly helped promote Cambodia’s prestige in the region and in the world. Along with this, Cambodia is open to tourism business by promoting fair competition, introducing policies for supporting the tourism development such as open sky policy, diversifying tourism products, and creating legal framework for the tourism sector.”
PM Hun Sen also had a lot to say about understanding the opportunities and challenges in the tourism and culture sectors, creation of new models of partnership and governance, and policy recommendations at cross-sectoral level to promote the development of tourism and culture sectors." eTN will be publishing the Cambodian prime minister's perspective on these issues in the coming days.
Billed as the World Conference on Tourism and Culture, the event is scheduled to take place from February 4-6 at the Le Meridien here in the Cambodian tourism capital of Siem Reap.
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