Post-pandemic, should Siem Reap embrace quality tourism over quantity?
The pandemic has devastated tourist-reliant Siem Reap. But Future Forum researcher Darlin Nay sees opportunity in crisis, believing that the downturn in visitors is an opportunity to reassess what kind of tourism model Cambodia wants to embrace
Darlin Nay
June 11, 2021

From the wonders of ancient ruins to remarkable natural attractions, Siem Reap is equipped with some of the best ingredients to be a successful tourist destination. Combine those with a favourable tourism policy and a tourist-friendly community, it is not surprising that the province was one of the most visited destinations in Cambodia before the pandemic.

In an ordinary year, Cambodians and foreigners alike would flock to the city for the Khmer New Year celebration. In 2019 the province welcomed more than 370,000 tourists during the holiday alone. But as the pandemic closed borders to weather the health impact of the crisis, Cambodia’s tourism industry has all but collapsed.

The statistics highlighting this decline are increasingly stark, and the Khmer New Year rush of business is a distant memory for now. The province and its main city became some of the clearest economic victims of the Covid-19 pandemic, with foreign and domestic visitors declining by 77% and 25% respectively in 2020. The number of visitors to the province plunged to just about 45,000 in the whole of 2020, leaving the main tourist centres a hollowed shell of their former selves.

In response to this sharp fall, the Cambodian government has rolled out some relief efforts, including tax exemptions for businesses, while members of the private sector has also taken steps to promote their local tourism industry through initiatives such as the #AngkorLikeNeverBefore campaign of the Cambodia Hotel Association. Still, such efforts can only be a small countering influence to the crushing weight of a global recession.

Nonetheless the government seems to have a positive outlook for the future of Siem Reap and is already preparing to welcome both domestic and international travellers, with Siem Reap at the centre of the plan.

On April 1, Prime Minister HE approved the National Tourism Roadmap 2021-2025 and Siem Reap Tourism Development Masterplan 2020-2035. The Ministry of Tourism said in a press release that Siem Reap could welcome 10.9 million domestic tourists by 2023 and 7.5 million international tourists by 2025, leading to 940,000 jobs created and generating an additional $6 billion. These numbers are a drastic increase from the 2 million and 2.2 million domestic and foreign travellers visiting Siem Reap Angkor in 2019.

But alongside the ambitious goals and rosy forecasts are concerns about the future of Cambodia’s tourism model that is increasingly centred around prioritising the quantity of tourists over everything else. Despite its challenges, the ongoing crisis thus provides an opportunity to reimagine how tourism functions as a key pillar of the Cambodian economy. In a post-pandemic world, is Siem Reap going to stick with the status quo, or could the city use a period of rebuilding as an opportunity to reframe Siem Reap’s appeal.

This begs the question, is Siem Reap’s tourism still going to follow a “quantity over quality” model, or would a more quality-focused strategy better serve Cambodia, its heritage and its people?
Full: https://southeastasiaglobe.com/siem-reap-tourism/

SR tourism will be back to "normal figures" as the attraction of the temples will be strong enough. Its just a question of time (could be anything from 2-7 years). Less bachpackers, more package tourists.

But never as good as hoped now the theme park is canned

1. They need to reduce the cost of the passes to Angkor Wat. $37 a day for one person is a lot. On the margins it reduces the appeal to families.

2. They need to regulate the low-end Chinese tourist companies. If they want to be aiming for higher end tourists, they need to cut down the number of large busses driving Chinese tourists around from the Chinese owned hotel to the Chinese owned restaurant to the Chinese owned souvenir shop. No money for Cambodia and it impacts the experience of other tourists.

3. They need to market some other places within Cambodia (or jointly with Thailand). Siem Reap is often a weekend visit for folks, and it is understandable. Other than seeing the Temples there isn't a ton of other things to do. You can visit the lake or waterfall but very few travelers are planning 3 days in Siem Reap and then 3 days in Kampong Cham. The nature of being a two day destination results in a concentrated spend - airline ticket, hotel, a restaurant visit or two and the ticket to Angkor Wat. A few tuk tuk guys make a few dollars but that is about it.

I think 2019 is likely where Siem Reap can get back to in a few years. It became an "it" destination for a few years but I think that has passed. The new roads will hopefully make things look more presentable and help sustain the appeal. We'll see where airline tickets end up - we may be entering a new era of travel where the cost to go from one continent to another is double what it used to be (tickets, Covid tests). That alone will cut down the number of travelers by a healthy margin.