Cambodia emphasised on sustainable tourism, comprising eco-friendly measures and involvement of the local community at the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2024 held at Vientiane in Laos recently.

Digital technology was another area Cambodia harped on as a crucial aspect of tourism promotion in the region, as a means of enhancing tourism experiences.

Quality and Responsible Tourism – Sustaining ASEAN Future was the theme of the week-long event that brought together stakeholders in the tourism industry in the ASEAN region on a common platform.

Representing Cambodia, Chhay Sivlin, President of Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, spoke at length about Cambodia’s aims and objectives. She made emphasis on regional collaboration as the key focus moving forward.

Sivlin also underlined the strategic importance of striking a balance between preserving the rich cultural heritage of the Kingdom along with embracing the latest in modern technology, to propel the country into a promising tomorrow.

“We are on the board of the ASEAN tourism association and also the World Tourism Alliance so we have regular meetings to update all our products that we offer in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and coastal zone products. We promote to the ASEAN region and also to the world,” said Sivlin at the event.

She highlighted community-based tourism as an important focus area for tourism. “We help them to create new products so that we have a lot of new itineraries to sell to the tourists. We divide by the markets as the Indian market, for example, is not the same as the Chinese market. They need another itinerary as does the European market. Recently we can see that the coastal areas have become more popular than before,” she added.

The inclusion of sustainability within the strategies and policies of most ASEAN destinations is a promising sign for the region’s future, felt Catherine Germier-Hamel, CEO of Destination Mekong/Millennium Destinations. “However, I am concerned about the tendency to overuse ‘sustainability’ and apply it to unsustainable tourism models, products and practices. This is clearly ‘greenwashing’ and this is undermining any branding and marketing efforts,” she added.

Many professionals and consumers still have difficulty figuring out what sustainable tourism is but the situation is changing, said Germier-Hamel. “We can’t keep fooling people indefinitely. Let’s stop sprinkling the term like parsley, hoping it magically transforms everything into a greener, healthier version,” she said.

Sivlin said Cambodia tries to participate in all the channels that are involved in tourism promotion. “We learn from other countries and we import their policy. We also invite the media from other countries like recently the Australian media, to promote the tourism products of Cambodia. We still have plans to invite many more media in the world to update our products because our services and hospitality have increased a lot and it’s not like before,” she added.

Along with sustainable tourism goals Sivlin also emphasized modern technology and innovation as the direction for Cambodia. Embracing digital transformation means engaging technology in areas like virtual tours and digital guides. She also made no secret of the fact that it was important to emulate lessons from the others in tourism strategy.