Tourism campaign for Cambodia suspended
Photo by: Steve FinchTourists walk around Angkor Wat in Siem Reap last year. The Tourism Ministry has delayed a television ad campaign aimed at promoting travel to the Kingdom, said Minister Thong Khon.
Monday, 05 October 2009 15:01 May Kunmakara
Television advertising not ready to go on air, says Ministry of Tourism, as analysts warn travel industry remains sluggish
THE Ministry of Tourism has suspended plans to air television advertising spots in key Asian markets next month, saying it had not given itself enough time to produce the advertisements.
Tourism Minister Thong Khon said the campaign would instead be launched “some time next year”.
“We cannot run them on time this year because we need more time to be well-prepared for the campaign,” he said.
The spots were due to air in China, South Korea and Japan, three of Cambodia’s most important tourist source countries. Arrivals from all three countries have plummeted since late last year in the wake of the global economic slowdown.
The ministry was talking to television networks in all three countries to persuade them to run travel programmes focused on Cambodia in the interim, Thong Khon said.
Arrivals from South Korea, which used to be the top source of visitors to the Kingdom, have fallen 31.23 percent in the first eight months of the year to 123,729, Ministry of Tourism figures released last month showed. Japanese visitors fell 14.05 percent over the same period to 77,305 while arrivals from China fell 10.24 percent to 70,135.
The fall in visitors from these countries was offset by a 43.66 percent rise in arrivals from Vietnam to 172,171 and a 126.29 percent rise in arrivals from Laos, boosting the number of visitors from Cambodia’s northern neighbour from 27,161 to 61,462. Overall visitor numbers rose 9.98 percent to 171,668 as a result during the first eight months compared to last year, the figures showed.
Underlying downturn
However, International Monetary Fund resident representative John Nelmes told a lunch hosted by the Australian Business Association of Cambodia on Friday that the gain in overland arrivals was a poor substitute for a double-digit decline in air arrivals, with tourists from across the frontier usually expected to spend less and stay for a much shorter time.
The ministry’s latest figures showed a 13 percent slide in air arrivals in the first eight months of 2009 year-on-year, whereas land arrivals were up 20.54 percent.
Nelmes’ warning of a near-term contraction in the tourism sector followed the visit last month of an IMF delegation from Washington that predicted a 2.75 percent contraction in the economy this year, dragged down by poor performance in the tourism, garment export and construction sectors.
Ho Vandy, co-chairman of the Government-Private Sector Forum’s tourism working group, said the private sector for a long time had been pushing the government to air the commercials.
“When we promote our tourism industry ... especially if our promotion is in their [local] languages, it means we are doing the right thing for our tourism sector,” he said.
The government should also look at a private-sector proposal to offer visa exemptions and find other ways to facilitate entry into the Kingdom, he added.
Thong Khon declined to say how much the campaign would cost. The ministry spent around US$340,000 in July last year on a series of “Cambodia: Kingdom of Wonder” commercials appearing on US-based network CNN.
Typhoon Ketsana blasts Cambodia
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Many of the deaths in Vietnam came in the Central HighlandsWednesday, 30 September 2009BBC News
The powerful typhoon that has hit the Philippines and Vietnam with deadly force is now battering Cambodia.At least nine people have died in Kampong Thom province in central Cambodia. When Typhoon Ketsana hit Vietnam, more than 30 people were killed and almost 200,000 people fled their homes; severe flooding remains in central provinces.In the Philippines, where the typhoon hit on the weekend, 246 people are dead and 380,000 trapped in shelters. Relief officials in the Philippines, struggling to feed and shelter hundreds of thousands of displaced people, admit they have been overwhelmed by the disaster.They warn that new storms are heading towards the country.Cambodia caughtIn Vietnam, Ketsana hit with torrentials rains and winds of more than 150 km an hour before it headed inland towards northern Cambodia and southern Laos.Typhoons usually weaken on reaching land, but Ketsana is still dangerous, officials said.Ly Thuch, deputy chief of the National Committee for Disaster Management, said Wednesday the storm made landfall on Tuesday afternoon with winds of up to 145 km (90 miles) per hour."At least nine people were crushed last night when their house fell down," said Chea Cheat, chief of the Red Cross office in Kampong Thom province, about 130 km (80 miles) north of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.The official added that at least 78 houses in his province were destroyed and that heavy rain and rising floods were continuing.International organisations and government officials in Cambodia said they were distributing tents and food to affected people while assessing damage across at least five of the country's provinces..Vietnam floodsThe BBC's Guy De Launey said that Ketsana, had been devastating when it headed toward the city of Danang, on central Vietnam's coast.The airport and schools were closed. Railways and roads linking north and south Vietnam were cut off. Danang airport has since reopened.The biggest floods in decades now threaten Vietnam's central provinces, correspondents said, with thousands of homes inundatedVietnamese state media reported that at least 33 people had died from floods and landslides in seven coastal and central highland provinces and river waters in Quang Nam provinces could reach a level last seen in 1964.Around 170,000 people were evacuated before the typhoon made landfall.Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said late on Tuesday that he hoped power supplies would be restored quickly, particularly to Quang Ngai province where Vietnam's first oil refinery, Dung Quat, was due to reopen after an outage shut the plant's test runs last month.OverwhelmedIn the Philippines, the government said it now believed 246 people had died after the storm struck on Saturday, a figure that is expected to rise as mud is cleared from the worst affected areas.Almost two million people were affected by the flooding in Manila, the worst to hit the city in 40 years. At one point, 80% of the city was submerged.Ketsana, with winds of up to 100km/h (60mph), hit the Philippines early on Saturday, crossing the main northern Luzon island before heading out toward the South China Sea. Officials say more than 40cm (16in) of rain fell on Manila within 12 hours, exceeding the average for the whole month of September.Meanwhile, forecasters said a new storm forming in the Pacific Ocean was likely to enter Philippine waters on Thursday and make landfall later on the northern island of Luzon.http://hontnews.blogspot.com/
The powerful typhoon that has hit the Philippines and Vietnam with deadly force is now battering Cambodia.At least nine people have died in Kampong Thom province in central Cambodia. When Typhoon Ketsana hit Vietnam, more than 30 people were killed and almost 200,000 people fled their homes; severe flooding remains in central provinces.In the Philippines, where the typhoon hit on the weekend, 246 people are dead and 380,000 trapped in shelters. Relief officials in the Philippines, struggling to feed and shelter hundreds of thousands of displaced people, admit they have been overwhelmed by the disaster.They warn that new storms are heading towards the country.Cambodia caughtIn Vietnam, Ketsana hit with torrentials rains and winds of more than 150 km an hour before it headed inland towards northern Cambodia and southern Laos.Typhoons usually weaken on reaching land, but Ketsana is still dangerous, officials said.Ly Thuch, deputy chief of the National Committee for Disaster Management, said Wednesday the storm made landfall on Tuesday afternoon with winds of up to 145 km (90 miles) per hour."At least nine people were crushed last night when their house fell down," said Chea Cheat, chief of the Red Cross office in Kampong Thom province, about 130 km (80 miles) north of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.The official added that at least 78 houses in his province were destroyed and that heavy rain and rising floods were continuing.International organisations and government officials in Cambodia said they were distributing tents and food to affected people while assessing damage across at least five of the country's provinces..Vietnam floodsThe BBC's Guy De Launey said that Ketsana, had been devastating when it headed toward the city of Danang, on central Vietnam's coast.The airport and schools were closed. Railways and roads linking north and south Vietnam were cut off. Danang airport has since reopened.The biggest floods in decades now threaten Vietnam's central provinces, correspondents said, with thousands of homes inundatedVietnamese state media reported that at least 33 people had died from floods and landslides in seven coastal and central highland provinces and river waters in Quang Nam provinces could reach a level last seen in 1964.Around 170,000 people were evacuated before the typhoon made landfall.Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said late on Tuesday that he hoped power supplies would be restored quickly, particularly to Quang Ngai province where Vietnam's first oil refinery, Dung Quat, was due to reopen after an outage shut the plant's test runs last month.OverwhelmedIn the Philippines, the government said it now believed 246 people had died after the storm struck on Saturday, a figure that is expected to rise as mud is cleared from the worst affected areas.Almost two million people were affected by the flooding in Manila, the worst to hit the city in 40 years. At one point, 80% of the city was submerged.Ketsana, with winds of up to 100km/h (60mph), hit the Philippines early on Saturday, crossing the main northern Luzon island before heading out toward the South China Sea. Officials say more than 40cm (16in) of rain fell on Manila within 12 hours, exceeding the average for the whole month of September.Meanwhile, forecasters said a new storm forming in the Pacific Ocean was likely to enter Philippine waters on Thursday and make landfall later on the northern island of Luzon.http://hontnews.blogspot.com/