Tourist Visitation

Discuss about the International Tourism and Hotel Management for Destination.

One of the remarkable facts of Cambodia is the Angkor Wat. It is the main reason due to which the tourists flock to Cambodia and is the world’s largest religious building in the world. Phnom Penh is the capital city of Cambodia and is popularly known as the Pearl of Asia. This report aims to illustrate the tourism in Phnom Penh (Dwyer and Thomas 2012). The report focuses on the tourism sector of Phnom Penh and focuses on the tourist visitation, impacts on the hosts, policy implications, destination attractiveness and tourism visitation.

The tourism sector of Phnom Penh has earned 3.63-billion-dollar revenue last year and this is found to be about a 13.3 percent increase according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Tourism. In the last year, the tourists that visited the kingdom has spent around 5.6 million and this is about 11.8 percent more in comparison to the year 2016. This has been said by the Kong Sopherarak who is the director of the statistics department at the Tourism Ministry. The director also stated that the large of tourists into the country is due to the increased air connectivity to the regions like China. According to the government report, China tops the number of the travellers that are visiting the kingdom in the year 2017. The other countries that came after China are Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Korea. The international flights that are being operated by the international flight operators have led to the increased number of visitors from China. According to the Director of the Tourism industry in Phnom Penh, it is expected that there will be at least six million international tourists in the year 2018, seven million in the year 2020 and ten million in the year 2025 (Khmer Times 2018).

The tourism statistics by the Phnom Penh government suggests that 540,478 passengers and 629,927 passengers arrived in the Phnom Penh International Airport. In the year 2016 the share of the total number of passengers that arrived in Phnom Penh is 59.1 percent and in the year 2017, the percentage is 61.4 percent. Thus, there is about 16.5 percent of the increase in the total number of tourist arrival. The foreign tourists that arrived the Phnom Penh are 419,797 and 486,467 in the year 2016 and 2017 respectively. The percentage of share is 39.6 and 40.9 percent for the year 2016 and 2017 respectively. Thus, the increase in the total number of tourists visiting in the year 2017 in Phnom Penh is 15.9 percent in comparison to the year 2016 (Kingdom of Cambodia 2017).

Destination Attractiveness

 The evidence concludes that China tops the chart with the most numbers of visitors, and it is followed by Vietnam. In the year 2017 the total number of tourists visiting Phnom Penh is 172,438 and for the year 2016 is 147,796 (Kingdom of Cambodia 2017).

The Phenom Penh is the capital city of Cambodia and it is situated at the confluence of the three rivers like the great Tonle Sap, Bassac and the mighty Mekong.  The city of Phnom Penh provides the tranquillity and the charm tree linked boulevards within the Angkorian architecture, the other chief attraction is the French colonial mansion (Tourismcambodia 2018).

 People travel to the city because there are a number of the hotels and restaurants that have played a major role in the increasing a large number of the visitors. The other reasons due to which the people visit Phnom Penh are the presence of the largest religious buildings, world heritage sites and also the Angkor Wat in the west (Tourismcambodia 2018).

The tourists are attracted to the Phnom Penh due to the various tourist attraction sites like the Royal Palace, Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Choeung Ek, Silver Pagoda, National Museum of Cambodia, Wat Phnom, Central Market, Independence Monument, Tuol Tom Poung Market, Wat Ounalom, Tonle Bati. The sites act as pull factors and the sites are both historical and present the grandeur of the historical kingdoms of Cambodia (Tourismcambodia 2018).

 The Maslow’s 5 stage tourism motivation theory states that there are 2 motivational factors like arousal seeking motives and the tension reducing motives. The five needs that progress from the bottom to up. At the bottom portion is the basic need for the protection, security and safety (Šimková and Holzner 2014).  

 Phnom Penh has a lot of tourist destinations and the destination presents a wide variety of options like the scenic beauty, historical buildings, and hotels and restaurants that satisfy the basic needs of the tourists and at the same time provide the protection, security and safety. The types of the tourists that are attracted to the site are religious, cultural and leisure tourists.

Economic impacts- the direct contribution of GDP for the year was found to be 9,888 billion KHR and it is 12 percent of the Cambodian GDP. Also in the year 2017, the rise is found to be about 10,949 billion KHR. This is primarily generated by the passenger transportation services, airlines, travel agents, and hotels. This also includes the activities of the leisure industries and the restaurants that are supported by the tourists. The travel and the tourism have generated about 988,000 jobs for the year 2016 and this increased by 9 percent in the 2017 and the overall number of the 1078,500 and is about 12 percent of the total employment. Due to the travel and the tourism, the tourism industry attracted about 2,5637 billion KHR in the year 2016 (Wttc.org (2018).

Positive and Negative Impacts on the Host Community

Socio-economic impacts- the impacts of the tourism have major social benefits to the residents of the that are residing in an around the urban areas. the tourism industry, local and the international tourists. The upgraded roads will serve to facilitate the efficient movement of the goods and population. The tourism related infrastructure also promotes the greater tourist throughput and will also revamp the river facilities. With the increase in the employment opportunities along with the higher income has resulted in an increased economic activity in the sub-region. The efficient sewage disposal systems and the wastewater treatment has proved to improve the quality of life of the resident populations. The burden on the woman especially with respect to the childcare and the other household activities has resulted in an improved child health which is dependent on the waste disposal, efficient sewage. Better facilities provided at the border crossings will enhance the movement of the local tourists and the migrant workers and this also led to the development of the wider regional community (mekonginfo.org 2018).

Negative effects- It is important to note that the tourists that come to Phnom Penh do not just come for pleasure and there is a small number of the tourists find Phnom Penh as a safe haven for the child trafficking and other forms of sexual abuse. There is another cross cultural and trans-national crimes like the transmitting the fatal diseases, drug trafficking and prostitution along with the other forms of the security threats that the tourists bring with them has resulted into a big threat for the population of the Phnom Penh. The expatriates that come to stay in Phnom Penh has resulted into the spread of new ideas among the Cambodians and help to modernise the country. however, it is bad for the culture of Phnom Penh due to the fact that Cambodians starts to follow the foreign dressing style and as well follows the western culture (Soratha 2018).

Environmental impact- Tourism is capable of generating both the negative and the positive impacts and it depends how well the development is managed and planned. It is better to stay that the tourism in Cambodia and Phnom Penh has provided a chance to conserve the scenic landscapes of the Phnom Penh, along with the conservation of the protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. It has been found that the Phnom Penh government has designated the protected areas in the country and which is the basis of the nature tourism and thus this has promoted the conservation of nature through the tourism. It has also been seen that the several historic and the archaeological sites are conserved through the development of tourism. Several improvements in the infrastructure which includes the infrastructure that services the tourism has been pointed out. The infrastructural improvement has resulted in controlling the environmental impacts and also improved the water, air, congestion and the types of pollution (mrcmekong.org 2018).

Economic Impact

 Negative impacts- the environmental problems result from the development of the tourism and the environmental problems that have aroused due to the tourism activities are the pollution in the ground and the surface water. The other issues that arise are the improper sewage water disposal from the tourist facilities, poorly designed hotels and also from the places that not so important tourist places. It has been found that the random littering in places and this has destroyed the landscape. This has actively raised the issues like the drainage problems after the heavy rains, traffic congestion, limited maintenance of the public and the urban space, solid waste disposal problems. Other serious problems that have been faced by the Phnom Penh is the uncontrolled logging problems and this has led to a wide range of disforestation all over the country and especially in the tourism awareness (mekonginfo.org 2018).

Issues related to tourism- Phnom Penh has several tourist destinations like the Royal Palace and being the capital city of Phnom Penh has undergone many developments. The Mekong River, Tonle Sap and Tonle Bassac form an X inside the city of Phnom Penh. These rivers provide the freshwater and types of resources. However, the major concern lies in the fact that the tourist destinations have suffered at the hands of the natural and human factors. The development of tourism, industrialization, economic reform and war have imposed plenty of undesirable side effects on the scenic zones of Phnom Penh (Khmer Times 2018). Thus, there is a need to protect the natural environment and is becoming an urgency within the Cambodian Governmental policies (Kaliyann 2018). Phnom Penh today has wild animal sanctuaries, multi-use zones, scenic zones and natural parks. However, the important part is that tourism support systems like the lodging accommodations, restaurants, transportation and the marketing promotions are rather found to be limited. It is important to note that the Mekong river, as well as the Tonle Sap, floods the Phnom Penh area every rainy season. Thus, the tourism sector still faces serious issues related to logistics (Hotel-online 2018).

The visa control issues that recently modify the cumbersome immigration procedures that pose the policy of no entry without the visa. The visitation to Phnom Penh is only restricted to the 14 days is not able to attract the tourists. The high inflation rates have also impacted the local currencies Riel and this clashes with the traveller’s checks and the credit cards. It has also been noted that the due to printing of the high number of banknotes to pay to the civil servants have led to the impacting the economy negatively. It is seen that the Riel is rarely used by the visitors, instead, US dollar is used to conduct the transactions. The other types of issues that often prohibit the tourism sector is the high crime rates, unstable political environment and the Khmer Rough guerrillas that attack the tourists. The management level positions in the Cambodian government is filled up by Thailand and the Singaporean expatriates. The country itself lacks good vocational training schools and hospitality technical colleges. The security issues remained the concern for the personal safety and places like Burundi and Rwanda are considered to be the most dangerous places. There are other issues like the criminals and drug traffickers taking advantage of the sluggish legal system and the ineffective police system (Web-cambodia 2018).

Socio-Economic Impact

 Due to the destruction of the signs of the rail network during the war has led to the visitors to share services buses and the taxi services for the purpose of the local transportation. However, it is important to note that the sources are of transportation are not reliable since the majority of the roads are not surfaced roads. Roadblocks by the armed thugs, encounter by the bandits and unexploded mines have proved to be a risk for the road transport (Kolnberger 2012). Taxi services are very limited in Phnom Penh and the travellers are left with the options like the rental bicycles, motorcycles, and the rental cars that are available at the reasonable prices. While rain, on the other hand, poses several problems for the travellers. There are other problems of communications and communication with the outside world is possible only through the fax and international call. These services are available only in few hotels (GOV.UK 2018).

Issues related to the development of Tourism in Phnom Penh- Tourism has played a major role in generating the employment and also helped in reducing the employment. This has a trickle-down effect on the creation of the local business, improving the local economies, improving the living conditions and at the same time reduces the poverty within the local communities. It is important to note that the number of the visitors have considerably increased in the 21 century. the number of visitors has increased considerably from the year 2010 to 2015 (Pound and Vijit 2016).

Recommendation-

• The awareness of the environment has to be increased so that it does not impact the tourism must inform the problem to the tourists and the stakeholders.
• There should be a control mechanism for the tourism industry and also in enforcing the regulations (Dwyer and Thomas 2012).
• The landscapes must be preserved so that it contributes positively to the attractiveness of the tourist destinations.
• The Cambodian government must include more tourism professionals in the training schools (Pound and Vijit 2016).

Government play a vital role in legislation tourism policy. Additionally, the other tourism policies also have an indirect and direct impact on the tourism industry. Green tourism plays a vital role in the sustainable development and conservation of the environment (Carter 2015). The green tourism policy will have the long-term benefit for the Phnom Penh and the implications of the policy are as follows:

• The policy will empower the local communities that include the young people and the women (Khon 2013).
• The policy will safeguard the natural resources and it will help in protecting the endangered species like the giant ibises, elephants and the gibbons (Seyhah and Usami 2014).
• The income of the local communities will increase and this will reduce the poverty and will increase the educational opportunities for the children. This will be possible through the implementation of the community-based tourism development and the will increase the employment opportunities (Jackie Ong and Smith 2014).
• Through the sustainable tourism, the lifecycle of the tourist destination will increase and will have better conservation outcomes (Reimer and Walter 2013).

Visa exemption- the countries that are allowed to visit Phnom Penh are the Brunei, Vietnam., Thailand, Singapore, Seychelles, Philippines, Malaysia, Laos, Indonesia. The Tourism industry also proposed visa-free entry for the neighbouring countries in the year 2015 (Hor and Thaiprasert 2015).

Reference

Carter, R.W., Thok, S., O’Rourke, V. and Pearce, T., 2015. Sustainable tourism and its use as a development strategy in Cambodia: a systematic literature review. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(5), pp.797-818.

Dwyer, L. and Thomas, F., 2012. Tourism yield measures for Cambodia. Current issues in tourism, 15(4), pp.303-328.

Negative Effects

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