Cambodia writes ecotourism law

PHNOM PENH Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism is preparing a draft law to govern ecotourism that when approved could support  environment protection.

Phnom Penh Post reported the draft law was still in the early development stages of technical discussions.

The ministry is collaborating with French University of Toulouse to develop the legislation, with additional support provided by Acting For Life, an NGO that specialises in sustainable tourism initiatives.

Tourism Minister Thong Khon told local media that ecotourism and community-based tourism were growing and should represent about 20% of market segments in the long-run.

“Ecotourism is a new tool to attract international tourists …it is also an effective tool to reduce poverty in rural areas by expanding tourism activities to remote areas in order to create jobs.”

For the first half of this year, 37,385 international tourists visited ecotourism areas, up 6.0% from 35,283 visits during the same period last year, according to the ministry’s Statistics and Tourism Information Department figures.

Last year, 63,261 international tourists travelled to ecotourism areas last year improving 5.4% from 60,031 visits in 2014.