After 2009 Plummet, Some See Upswing for S Reap Tourism

In Siem Reap, tourism is life.

?Here, everything is only for the tourists, always, so if the tourists are down everyone is worried,? said Bun Thorn, a manager at the budget hotel Angkor River Star.

Everyone is indeed worried here, but much less so than in 2009, which Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers Federation President Luu Meng last May called ?the worst year ever.?

After a year of plummeting tourist arrivals, Siem Reap tourism is finally on an upswing. Air arrivals to Cambodia dropped by 103 percent in 2009, and tourists visiting the Angkor Wat temple complex fell by 13 percent But according to recently released Tourism Ministry statistics, visitor arrivals to Angkor Wat and Siem Reap city both rose substantially in January compared to the same month last year, driven by an influx of Korean and Vietnamese tourists.

And just two weeks from the end of the first quarter of 2010, Mr Meng said the industry landscape is already looking far brighter.

?It?s only about 5 to 6 percent above last year in terms of numbers, but it's a big positive,? Mr Meng said yesterday. ?For the first quarter it looked great for us, and I think as well most of our neighboring countries were traveling a bit more here.?

Interviews with a wide range of Siem Reap tourism industry employees this week revealed apprehension about the future, but also a palpable relief that 2010 looks to be better than the annus horribilus that was 2009.

At Intrepid Travel, tour bookings this year have already exceeded figures for all of 2009, reservations consultant Sophanya Im said, although they have still not bounced back to the high levels they saw in 2007 and 2008.

?In 2007 and 2008 we were like at 90 percent [capacity], and this year is 70 percent, but last year was 50 percent,? she explained. ?It was really slow, and a lot of hotels dosed.?

?2011 we hope will be better again than this year,? she added.

Khim Ty of Buffalo Tours concurred with Ms Im?s assessment, saying business was up about 20 percent from the same time last year.

?Now if s a lot better this year,? he said. ?Even the streets are busier, less dusty.? The Sokha Angkor Resort is also thriving, with February bookings up about 6 percent from last year, and March bookings up 40 percent Bookings for April, May and June are already at the same levels as 2009.

?It?s more optimistic, but there's a seasonality problem?June, July, the rainy season are really low, especially because Europeans only travel from October to March anyway,? said Emmett McHenry, the hotel?s general manager. ?It won?t be until October that things will get back nearly to the level of 2008.?

At the Shinta Mani boutique hotel, where rooms go for $118-185 a night, the prognosis is more uncertain.

?In 2010, our business so far is not so bad. But absolutely from April 2009 to October, I guess, it was way down everywhere in Siem Reap, realty bad,? said front office manager Kay KoL But after a rise in January and February, bookings dipped again this month, and Mr Kol said the hotel will dose for renovations during the off-peak rainy season.

Lay Phan, a vendor who sells gilt-embroidered tablecloths and silk-ware at the town?s Night Market, told a similar story.

?In 2008 we would usually sell out 100 percent of our inventory, but in 2009 that was divided by three,? she said. ?This year is a little bit difficult to describe?we have a lot of tourists, but less selling potential than in 2008 because people don't buy as much.?

But Ms Phan added this year is ?a little bit better, through my observation.? Sales are up about 10 or 15 percent so far, she said. During last year's high season, she took in about $30 a day in revenue, but this year she?s earning around $35 to $40. But she remains nervous about the impending low season?her low season sales last year dipped 50 percent from 2008.

And despite the seeming recovery, there have been casualties.

Last year, business was so bad that both the Alison Angkor and the Princess Angkor?two cavernous, high-end hotels along National Road 6?were forced to close their doors for a low season hiatus and furlough their staff.

This year, the picture for both hotels has changed drastically. The Alison has reopened and bookings there are up. Sam Norak, the sales manager for the four-star hotel, said it is now on firmer ground after struggling last year.

?The situation last year was very low, especially from April on, but now we can say that although occupancy is still low, it is higher than last year,? he said. ?Two thousand and nine was one of the lowest years ever.?

Although economic conditions forced a three-month furlough in 2009, this month bookings are up 2 or 3 percent from last March. About 34 parent of the hotel?s 169 rooms are now full, and January and February occupancy rates were up from last year by an average of 12 percent. Mr Norak says he is optimistic this year?s low season will be better than last year's, and swears no hotel staff will be furloughed in 2010.

But the Princess is a ghost town.
It was meant to reopen in October, but it has been closed for almost a year now. Dust and dirt cover the lobby. The only signs of human occupancy are a pair of old boots and a well-thumbed guide for Cambodians looking for work in Korea.

Outside, the tiles of the hotel's swimming pool are still bright blue, but they enclose brackish waters. The grass is knee-high and tangled around the sign that still spells out ?Princess Angkor? in gold letters.

Im Ran, the brother of the hotel?s - owner, now lives alone in the 120-room Princess with his wife and two other staff members. They cook for themselves in a tiny service kitchen and try to beat back the creeping dust and grime as best they can.

?It?s like my home,? he explained. ?I?ve lived here since 2002.?

The hotel never reopened after closing temporarily in April, supposedly for renovations. A double whammy of low occupancy and high oil prices eventually proved fatal, Mr Ran said.

?There were very few tourists, and at the same time the low sea-son started, oil prices increased.?

Mr Ran and his brother are still contemplating renovating the place and starting over, but it will be a big job.

?If we want to reopen, we need to upgrade and spend a lot of money,? he said. ?We hope well open again soon, but we don?t know.?

In the meantime, what does he do all day?

?Nothing.?

Douk Thakalin, the general manager of the Neth Socheata, a tiny guesthouse near the Siem Reap River, was also less sanguine than most proprietors interviewed this week. Her guesthouse is holding its own, but Ms Thakalin also owns a restaurant near Pub Street the Socheata II, which she says is struggling mightily to attract tourists.

?Business at the guesthouse is OK. It?s getting better,? she said. ?But for the restaurant last year we could benefit from it but this year we're spending all our revenues on payroll, water and electricity.?

The Neth Socheata opened last year, smack in the middle of the low season and the economic downturn, and for a while it struggled to get even three guests a month. This week, at the tail end of the high season, 13 of its 15 rooms were occupied.

But despite the miseries of 2009 and the uncertainties of 2010, Ms Thakalin says she?s in the tourism industry for the long haul ?We?re concerned,? she said, ?but this is our job. This is our business. We don?t know what else to do but run it.?

Sourced = The Cambodia Daily