Crash crushes Cambodia's tourism sector

Crash crushes Cambodia's tourism sector

By Katya Robinson

PHNOM PENH (Reuter): A fatal plane crash at Phnom Penh's
international airport last week has blackened the already dreary
outlook for tourism in the troubled country.

Tourism, once one of the country's fastest-growing sectors,
virtually dissolved in the wake of factional fighting in the
capital of Phnom Penh in early July.

Last Wednesday's crash of a Vietnam Airlines flight that
killed 64 may delay any recovery, analysts said last Friday.

"It's as if tourism had been on the ground half dead, and this
were a kick to finish it off," said one business consultant.

Even Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, who deposed the ousted
First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh on July 6, appeared
aware of the double blow to Cambodia's image and tried to address
it in a speech last Friday.

"The July clashes and the Sept. 3 plane crash are
unprecedented events in 18 years," he said. "There's never been a
foreign air accident here before."

Analysts said while the crash may prove to be no fault of
Cambodians, the timing of the tragedy was nonetheless a tough
blow to the country's image.

"It's not the kind of thing we needed now," said Thierry
Douin, manager of the new five-star Intercontinental Hotel in
Phnom Penh.

The task of those selling war-scarred Cambodia as a tourist
destination has never been easy, but in recent years officials
had succeeded in convincing thousands of foreigners that the
country was a safe and fascinating place to visit.

The famed 10th-12th century temples at Angkor, and the
relative peace that followed the 1993 elections, had lured
thousands of foreigners here in recent years.

Finance officials said tourism last year accounted for one-
third of all capital inflows into the country, with nearly
200,000 tourists visiting.

But now there are signs the boom may be going bust. Visitors
in July this year totaled only 6,521, compared with nearly 20,000
the month before. Fewer than 4,000 of the visitors were tourists,
and most of them came in the first week of July, before fighting
broke out, tourism officials said.

Fighting erupted on July 5-6 between the forces of Hun Sen and
those loyal to First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh,
resulting in Hun Sen deposing his senior coalition partner.

Not only tourists are staying away. Minister of Tourism Veng
Sereyvuth, a member of Ranariddh's party, is one of dozens of
officials who have not returned to their old jobs since Ranariddh
was ousted.

But despite the political turmoil, tourism officials blame the
media, not recent events, for the problems.

Pictures of wounded soldiers and fleeing civilians from
continued factional fighting in the northwest give people the
wrong idea, said Sok Chenda, tourism undersecretary of state.

"We want to show the whole world and especially CNN (Cable
News Network) that everything is going back to normal," he told
Reuters.

Analysts weren't entirely convinced those assurances would
undo the damage of recent events, however.

"There is a crucial issue of safety in Cambodia," said one
Asian diplomat. "And the government needs a good public relations
consultant to show what is positive here."