The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has initiated a new strategy under the theme of ‘Uniting for a Collective Vision’ to contribute to Cambodia’s prestige and resilience by positioning the Kingdom as a leading global destination enshrined with rich diversity, boundless opportunities and genuine compassion.

According to a copy of the new strategy obtained by Khmer Times, Minister of Tourism Sok Soken said, “The new strategic initiative is aimed at streaming and enhancing the efforts to transform Cambodia into a global tourist destination with the mission to build an enabling environment of the country to become a competitive, sustainable, and inclusive destination.”

Soken emphasised that adopting a common language and mindset to plan, execute, and monitor this new strategic initiative will bring five major benefits. The first is ‘clarify of purpose’ which is the dissemination of information in various languages ensuring that every ministry grasps the essence, objectives, and action plan of the strategy.

“The second benefit is ‘unified decision-making’, when adopting a common language about the initiative strategy, decision-making becomes more efficient and effective under a single analytical framework, and the third aims at strengthening collaboration by creating a platform for open discussions and robust feedback, allowing the ministry to leverage collective expertise and diverse perspectives.”

The fourth regards trust building in which the shared languages and information cultivate a sense of trust and alignment enabling the team to rely on each other to improve working performance. The last benefit aims at the synchronization of projects and activities that optimise resource allocation, prevent redundancy, and ensure endeavours complement one another, he added.

According to MoT, the strategic initiative encompasses vision, mission, strategy and goals, which are stacked in a manner that resembles a house as it shows the connection of the different building blocks. The strategy sits at the core of the whole structure involving the sub-strategies of ‘BUILD plus 3Ds’.

“The ‘BUILD’ included Brand management, Unique selling point marketing, Inbound design quality travel, Leverage on endowment and diversification, and Develop competitive sites and resources while the ‘3Ds’ were Design institutional structure, Digital transformation, and Developing capability.”

In order to implement this strategic initiative, MoT requires a clear approach in implementation, particularly in how to understand and define problems as well as develop effective solutions. Moreover, this approach needs to enable positive and smooth collaboration within the team during the process of implementation.

The ministry is currently working to incorporate ‘Design Thinking’ which is a human-centred approach to solving complex problems for innovation, with five key phases including empathise, define, ideate, prototype and test. All officials and professionals at the MoT will utilise ‘Design Thinking’ as a common operational language for solving complex problems that the ministry is facing, revealed MoT sources.