Mekong Discovery Trail gains exposure

Mekong Discovery Trail made its official debut at the annual Mekong Tourism Forum, here in Pakse over the weekend, focusing on building tourism in Stung Treng and Kratie provinces in northeast Cambodia.SNV Cambodia, pro-poor sustainable tourism sector leader, Trevor Piper, said Stung Treng and Kratie were selected primarily because of their high poverty levels.

“The objective of the project is poverty alleviation,” he explained adding there were substantial tourism related assets in the provinces.Most of the assets are linked to a relatively unspoiled section of the Mekong River, home to the Irrawaddy dolphin and surrounded by forest mountain ranges, waterfalls and hill tribe villages.

The Mekong Discovery Trail is a co-operative effort with the Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism and has the support of UNWTO, Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Netherlands Development Agency (SNV).

According to Mr Piper, the agencies surveyed potential tourism sites and worked with villagers to develop products that will support them financially. It involves training and assistance in marketing.The agencies do not act as tour operators. Instead they coordinate with villages to assist them in developing a business model and providing information about the tourism assets to a wider audience, he said.

Tour operators and travellers need to contact villagers who own the products and manage them. This ensures all the revenue goes back to the communities.The Mekong Discovery Trail stretches 190 km from the Laos-Cambodia border in Stung Treng province all the way to Kratie. Tourists can cover the whole length or selected parts of the trail.

Mekong Discovery Trail comes with several suggested sub-trails having maps with attractions marked as well as transport options, brief information of the areas, possible itineraries and contact persons for the trade to pursue business opportunities.

The agencies also produce a tourism investment profile to attract investors to develop facilities in the areas. The booklet explains investment policies and procedures, possible locations, market conditions with statistics such as hotel supply, tourist arrivals and current tourists demographic.

Kratie is 340 km from Phnom Penh and takes at least three hours and an half by overland transport and one and a half hours from Vietnam. Stung Treng is 140 north of Kratie a two hours drive.The travel estimates quoted are optimistic. It is probably advisable to calculate transfer time at an average of 60 kph.

Both provinces are served daily by four bus companies on routes from Phnom Penh in Cambodia and also from southern Laos. About 300 passengers travel the routes daily but they are mainly traders.However, there are issues that curtail overland travel from Laos and Vietnam to this area.

Both countries cap vehicle flow at 300 vehicle trips a month, a level almost reached by scheduled daily bus services, which leaves very little of the quota left for private cars and tour buses.However, there are discussions on increasing the quota.International travel to and from Vietnam is restricted by visa regulations. The visa on arrival facility is not allowed at overland checkpoints on the Vietnamese border.

According to the investment guide Kratie received 13,733 visitors in 2010 up from 12,325 in 2009. Meanwhile, Stung Treng’s arrivals decreased from 10,123 to 7,799 last year over 2009, but the trend over the past five years recorded a steady improvement in travel.

Most visitors to the trail are from Europe, North America and New Zealand and are generally backpackers, well-travelled independent travellers, seniors seeking soft adventure and expatriates living in Cambodia.

Source = ttrweekly