Cambodia, Myanmar Agree On Tourist Air Links

Cambodia and Myanmar have agreed to direct flights between the two countries, home to some of Southeast Asia's greatest cultural treasures, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said on Wednesday.

"There will be direct flights from Bagan and Mandalay, which are Myanmar's main tourist destinations, to Siem Reap," he told reporters, referring to the tourist town near Cambodia's famed Angkor temples.

"We have the same culture, same civilizations as we're Buddhists," he said. "We need to have direct flights so that we can attract more international tourists to visit our two countries."

Hor Namhong, who accompanied Prime Minister Hun Sen on a two-day official visit to Myanmar, said other direct flights were planned between the Southeast Asian countries.

The 800-year-old Angkor Wat temple complex is largely responsible for an explosion of tourists to the war-scarred nation, which attracted 1.7 million visitors last year.

Cultural aficionados say the similar-aged Buddhist temples in Bagan in central Myanmar are a close rival to Angkor, but a chronic lack of infrastructure in the former Burma power cuts are a daily problem and foreign credit cards are rarely accepted means they attract only a fraction of the number of visitors.

Airlines in Thailand have tried to promote a similar "cultural package" in the region, with flights linking Angkor to the ancient Thai and Lao capitals, Sukhothai and Luang Prabang, and Hoi An in central Vietnam.

Cambodia, Myanmar Move To Strengthen Tourism Ties

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen met with junta head Senior General Than Shwe in military-ruled Myanmar on Tuesday, officials said, as the two nations moved to improve tourism links. Officials from both countries have said the focus would be trade and tourism.

Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told AFP that Hun Sen would discuss ways of making travel easier between Myanmar and nearby Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, with possible direct flights and package tours.

"Buddhism will be the potential tourist link for these four countries -- like Cambodia, there are a lot of temples in Myanmar," Khieu Kanharith said.

These talks are hoped to spur action on a tourism agreement already signed between the two countries, but which has not been implemented yet. Tourism is a key industry in impoverished Cambodia, and tourist arrivals in Myanmar are also creeping up.

On Monday, Hun Sen met with acting premier Thein Sein and a number of officials, including the transport and foreign ministers and the deputy minister for tourism, the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

Source: Asian News from AFP

Mekong Tourism Investment Forum 2007

Mekong Tourism Investment Forum 2007

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Tourism authorities from the six countries of the Greater Mekong sub-region met in HCM City on 29-30 March 2007 to seek common strategies to encourage investment in privately owned facilities and services.

One of the main speakers, Dr Pham Tu, Vietnam National Administration for Tourism (VNAT) deputy director general, said the forum sought ideas from the business community, tourism authorities and financing institutions.

The goal was to make the area a major tourism destination and contribute to poverty alleviation and sustainable tourism development, he said.

More than 150 representatives of the business community and tourism authorities from Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Yunnan Province in China attended the second annual Mekong tourism investment forum.

Financial lenders, academics, experts and observers also contributed their ideas toward creating sustainable tourism, especially for small- and medium-sized companies that operate in the private sector.

Held by the ADB and VNAT, the forum explored specific investment options, including common commercial bank loans, currently available SME funds and soft-loans, venture capital, and personal financing.

Delegates also discussed green certification, networking and mentor programs and proposed solutions that ADB and other related institutions could support.

Dr. Tu said the Greater Mekong Sub-region, which covers 2.5 million sq. km and has a population of more than 300 million, has great potential for tourism development, with 14 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and monuments.

(www.mekongworldheritage.org http://whc.unesco.org/en/list)

In 2005, GMS received more than 20.5 million visitors, accounting for 11 per cent of the total number of tourist arrivals in the Asia-Pacific region. The figure is expected to grow to 50 million in 2015. Dr. Tu said in 2005 the GMS tourism sector earned US$16 billion and generated more than 4 million jobs.

Kamol Ratanavirakul, senior consultant at the Institute for SME Development of Thailand and president of Thai Hotel and Hospitality Management Association, said the International Finance Corp, ADB, the Japanese Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund and other lending institutions should provide more support to SMEs in the region.

That could be done by setting up a tourism development fund providing low-interest loans to tourism SMEs, he said.

According to an ADB report, participation by the private sector in the GMS was mixed. In Cambodia and Thailand, tourism-related businesses all belong to the private sector, while in China’s Yunnan Province, Laos and Vietnam, many are government-owned, particularly larger hotels. However, many small- and medium-sized travel agencies in Vietnam are in the private sector.

For further information please contact: www.mekongtourism.org

Mekong Region as a Single Travel and Tourism Destination

To promote the Mekong region as a single travel and tourism destination under the brand ‘Mekong Tourism’.

Tourism is undeniably one of the largest industries in the world and a rapidly growing phenomenon. This particularly true of the GMS Countries.

For complete information on Mekong Tourism and Development, please log on to the official site www.mekongtourism.org