The Trapaing Sangke Community of Kampot province has received two awards from the ASEAN Community, the ASEAN Standard Tourism Community Award and the ASEAN Standard Tourism Community Guesthouse Award.

Sim Him, President of Trapaing Sangke Community, said that this was the first time that Trapaing Sangke has received two awards from ASEAN Community. The awards ceremony was held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on February 2-5.

Both awards have been received due to the cooperation with the authorities and the support from donor organisations, especially the participation of community members, who are cooperating in the maintenance of the eco-tourism area, he added.

“Currently, tourists appreciate the work of Trapaing Sangke and encourage more efforts for the benefit of the community and for future generations, so we will strive to improve the ecotourism in the area to attract national and international tourists to visit more,” he said.

Him noted that the two awards came after an assessment by the Ministry of Tourism on tourism communities across the country.

 
 
The Trapaing Sangke Ecotourism Community has 41 guest rooms, 16 tourist boats, a 1,000-metre-long wooden bridge in the mangrove forest, and 30 seafront resorts including 48 hectares of mangrove forests, of which 28 hectares are newly planted, he said.

Soy Sinol, director of the Kampot Provincial Department of Tourism, said yesterday that he was very happy that Trapaing Sangke has received two awards from the ASEAN Community.

There are many reasons why they received the awards from the ASEAN Community. It was mainly due to the relevant authorities and the Trapaing Sangke who provided good hospitality services to tourists, including food, accommodation and with good environmental hygiene, he added.

The relevant authorities had increased the conservation of mangrove forests and planted more mangrove trees as part of creating an ecotourism system to attract national and international tourists to visit the Trapaing Sangke year on year, he added.

“Throughout Kampot, we currently have four ecotourism communities and we will work to strengthen the services and hospitality in those communities to be able to receive awards from the ASEAN Community like Trapaing Sanke,” he said.

In Kampot there are 34 resorts and tourist destinations throughout the province.

Kampot province received 1,778,926 national and 50,734 foreign tourists last year, he said.