Cambodia Promotes World Treasures
Amid rose pedals and enhanced with exotic music and dance, members of the Khmer community in Sydney, local officials of suburban Cabramatta, travel industry and media were welcomed to an update on Cambodian tourism in early April.
The event was the first to be organised by the newly appointed Australian Representative for the Ministry of Tourism Cambodia, with the tourism office located within the office of the wholesale company, Amazing Vacations in Melbourne.
The chief guest, H.E. Mr Lay Prohas, Minister of Tourism, Cambodia said that tourism arrivals have grown significantly rising from just over a million in 2004 to 1.42 million last year. Some 47,465 Australians visited the South East Asian nation last year.
Gordon Bell, Australian Representative for the Ministry of Tourism Cambodia said that the country’s four main tourist areas would be promoted in Australia this year: Siem Reap and the world famous temples of Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh and its Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, museums and great markets, Sihounukville and its beaches and the emerging ecotourism destination of Rattanakiri.
[Pictured: H.E. Mr Lay Prohas, Minister of Tourism of Cambodia and Gordon Bell, Australian Representative for the Ministry of Tourism Cambodia discuss promotional ideas at the road show.]
Mr Bell said that his office would be working closely with wholesalers wishing to develop new tour products to the kingdom. “As well, we will be able to supply general tourism brochures and maps to the industry and consumers,” he said.
Meanwhile preparations are being made for the largest tourism event ever to be held in Cambodia, the Angkor International Tourism Exchange (AITEX).
Scheduled for January 14 – 18, 2007 the AITEX Travel Trade Exhibition is expected to draw more than 400 exhibitors to the new exhibition hall in Siem Reap.
A series of seminars and conferences, FAM trips, cultural festivals and a golf invitational are planned for the exhibition which is being organised in conjunction with the December 2006 – January 2007 Angkor – Gyeongju World Culture Exposition in Siem Reap. More details are available at www.aitexcambodia.com
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