Tourists 'will still come' to Angkor Wat despite massive price rise
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Tourists 'will even so come' to Angkor Wat despite massive price ascension
While archway fees to visit Angkor Wat are set to go up by as much as 85 per cent, tourism officials think visitors will not be put off.
Sunrise at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia. On Feb ane, strange visitors will have to pay nigh double the current price to come across the twelfth-century temple complex. (Photo: Pichayada Promchertchoo)
SIEM REAP, Cambodia: From next week, foreigners will have to pay almost twice as much to visit Angkor Wat, Cambodia's most-visited attraction, raising questions about whether the country'south tourist industry will suffer every bit a result.
Angkor Wat, a temple complex dating back to the 12th century, pulls in more than 2 million foreign visitors annually, generating Usa$62.5 million from ticket sales last twelvemonth. That amount is expected to jump this yr afterward the new entrance fees kick in on February 1.
The toll of a one-solar day laissez passer will go up from United states$twenty to US$37, an increase of 85 per cent. A iii-day pass will cost US$60 and a week-long pass U.s.$72, a jump from US$xl and US$62 respectively.
While the increases are meaning, they are the first for 22 years, and there is some optimism that tourists will not be put off from visiting the jewel in Cambodia'southward tourism crown.
"If yous look at the inflation, a one-day pass would be worth near U.s.a.$forty at present. There are more than 100 temples and Us$37 for 1 day is still cheaper than other places," said Executive Managing director Ly Se from the Angkor Enterprise, a governmental body in accuse of ticket sales at the Angkor Archaeological Park.
"Tourists will notwithstanding come up to Angkor Wat."
"THE INCREASE IS HUGE"
Even so, the aforementioned confidence is non felt by some local tour operators. Many of them have questioned the transparency of the price increment, which will be implemented at a time when some are reporting a downturn in business organization.
"Nosotros find it very strange that the government announced the price increment at short notice. As a tour operator, we want transparency and collaboration before decisions," said Sareth Duch from Angkor Destination, a tour agency in Siem Reap.
Most of his clients are Europeans, who deemed for about a quarter of the visitors to Angkor Wat final twelvemonth. He is worried the price hike will add to the affect that a weak European economy and Brexit is having on his business organisation.
"The increment is huge. We've already experienced a drop in customers. It's not just because of the price increase but it is a gene. People are earning less coin. I have no thought why our regime made this decision."
The fact that 85 per cent of acquirement from ticket sales goes to the national upkeep may have influenced the government's thinking, particularly as tourism officials do not share the view that it could lead to a significant drop in visitor numbers.
"We might feel a footling drop in visitors and have to adjust the costing. Yet, the prices yet remain affordable for tourists as well as tour operators, as they've already prepared themselves," President of the Kingdom of cambodia Association of Travel Agents (CATA) Chhay Sivlin told Aqueduct NewsAsia.
Still, with tours to Angkor Wat bookkeeping for around seventy per cent of operators' income nationwide, according to Chhay, the touch on of the cost hike on the wider tourism industry volition be closely watched.
The new entrance fees were announced last August, months later the government took over ticketing from Sokimex - the largest oil and gas company in Cambodia with strong links to the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP).
Sokimex enjoyed a 17-year concession to sell tickets for the highly-profitable tourist attraction. The understanding allowed it to continue 15 per cent of the revenue from ticket sales, a source of criticism by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Political party (CNRP).
Nonetheless, that is no longer the case. With the establishment of Angkor Enterprise, more than income volition be directed to country coffers, with the 15 per cent that was going to a private company now set to exist invested in preserving and enhancing the temple complex.
AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE
While the price hike will have zero effect on Cambodians, as they tin visit Angkor Wat costless of charge, information technology looks set to come equally an unpleasant surprise for foreign tourists.
"It'south an amazing place. US$xx is okay only U.s.$37 is so, so expensive. I've been to Paris and the Eiffel Tower, the most famous (tourist attraction), and the fee is cheaper," said Joao Rafael from Brazil.
Although many tourists that Channel NewsAsia spoke to said they would pay more to see Kingdom of cambodia's most treasured site, some were reluctant.
"Information technology'southward quite expensive already simply to be here. For that price, I would see other parts of the land and not Angkor Wat," said Jean-Matthieu Schmerber from Belgium. "What is going to change for the experience of tourists hither? I think it'll be the same. At that place are also places comparable to here and cheaper, like Bagan in Myanmar."
In the regional tourism market, Kingdom of cambodia is up confronting fierce contest. "Other countries also take their resources, similar Myanmar for example. It's also booming. Vietnam does a lot of promotion. It even gives gratuitous visas," Duch said.
"When we jump as well high, nosotros're afraid the tourist arrivals volition drop."CNA FB Pixel
Follow Pichayada Promchertchoo on Twitter @PichayadaCNA
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