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Cambodia: Sea Festival to go ahead, hoping to promote hard-hit tourism sector
Cambodia’s Sea Festival celebration is to go ahead as planned late December this year, which will be held in Sihanoukville town, aiming to promote the Kingdom as a potential tourism destination to the world.
The festival is held every year in different coastal provinces – Kampot, Kep, Preah Sihanouk and Koh Kong on a rotating basis.
This year the event marks the third time it has been held in Sihanoukville in its nine-year history and will feature entertainment performances, exhibitions of locally made good0s, street food and sports competitions among other events on the basis the COVID-19 crisis has eased.
Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism Ministry, said the up-coming Sea Festival is primarily to inform international tourists that Cambodia is a safe tourism destination and boasts good quality services.
“This enables us to promote our tourism market internationally,” he said.
The ministry has already put in place a code of conduct concerning safety measures for land and waterway transportation businesses to prevent the spread of the virus and promote tourists’ safety in the country, while warning that all businesses that do not comply with or implement the measures appropriately will see their licences subject to immediate suspension in accordance with Article 44 of the Tourism Law.
Minister Thong Khon said Sihanoukville city urbanisation is being well organised and made more attractive, while the infrastructure development is almost complete. He added: “However, related-tourism service quality, restaurants and beaches need to be further improved, ensuring theyare well-prepared ahead of tourist arrivals.”
Prime Minister Hun Sen previously said the sea festivals not only help to promote the country’s tourism potential, but also support the government policy of promoting the sustainable development of the sector.
“It is an important opportunity for cities along the country’s coast to become quality tourism destinations and authorities in these cities need to create more green spaces,” he said, adding that the cities along the coast should be green and clean.
“Turning these cities into green cities will help ameliorate the negative effects of development and will attract more tourists.”
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50735633/sea-festival-to-go-ahead-hoping-to-promote-hard-hit-tourism-sector/