As the Chinese economy booms and overseas travel becomes less of a luxury limited to the privileged few, more and more people are choosing to travel abroad. China’s Tourism Academy estimates that 54 million Chinese travelers will go abroad this year. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, China will be the world’s fourth-largest source of outbound tourists by 2020, with 100 million overseas visits. With many countries now striving to lure more Chinese tourists, developing countries also become interesting destinations for Chinese tourists.  Even though, many Chinese tourists dream of traveling to destinations like Paris, London, and New York, China is one of the fastest growing source markets in South East Asia. Also developing countries are being considered, while many “first-time” travelers are not comfortable due to security and hygiene concerns.

A recent online poll by China Daily in September 2010, however showed that 71% of participating Chinese readers would travel to developing countries, stating that their beautiful natural scenery, high quality service and affordable prices are the top priorities for many Chinese tourists. 29% of survey participants believed that safety should be the top concern for Chinese tourists. But the infrastructures in developing nations are bad, with poor hygiene and poor security. In any case, it is clear that Chinese tourists will increase to developing countries, and the sheer numbers, even though the overall percentage may still be low, will make up a significant share of overall tourist arrivals.

However, there is also a negative side to the growing number of Chinese tourists to developing countries. Let’s take Cambodia as an example, in particular the temples around Siem Reap, with Angkor Wat being on the list of many Chinese travelers. Angkor Wat is one of the major tourist attractions in Southeast Asia, with more than 2 million visitors annually. Chinese, Japanese and Koreans make up a large portion of these visitors, as the site is a short flight from many major Chinese airports. The temple also continues to be an important site for Buddhists, who visit from around the world, including China. Angkor Wat has a long history of Chinese travelers. The most famous Chinese traveler – and the source of most modern information about the Khmer civilization – was Zhou Daguan, a diplomat who served under Temür Khan, the Emperor Chengzong of Yuan. He stayed in Angkor for nearly a year in 1296, living at the court of Indravarman III, in the sunset years of the Khmer Empire. He later penned his account of his time there, “Zhenla feng tu ji,” or “The Customs of Cambodia.”
Many economists claim that tourism brings development and prosperity and improves living standards. But in Siem Reap province, although hotel expansion has provided some new jobs, for the vast majority of poor farmers in the province, there has been no benefit at all. Quite the contrary. land prices and food prices have increased, not living standards. The poor residents of Siem Reap town have increasingly been pushed out, unable to cope with rising costs and increasing rents. The major beneficiaries of unregulated mass tourism are international hotels, foreign airlines, travel agencies and business companies based in neighbouring Thailand and other countries. For every tourist dollar from visitors to Cambodia, it is estimated that 80 cents leak out of the country. And most of the remaining 20% is greedily grabbed by local business mafias and the ruling elite. There are 360 Koreans living in Siem Reap to manage all the Korean business. Little stays in the province. Most of the good hotels are Korean or Thai, or foreign.… In fact, Siem Reap is still one of the poorest provinces in Cambodia. Little of the money being generated by the tourist boom is ploughed back either to the Cambodian people or to help conserve the temples. Education and public health services are still as under-funded as ever, with illiteracy rife in many parts of the province.

From January 15-21, 2011, a lot of international media and travel agents will come to Phnom Penh for ATF, the ASEAN Tourism Forum to source products and travel experiences from South East Asia. ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) is a cooperative regional effort to promote the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region as one tourist destination. This annual event involves all the tourism industry sectors of the 10 member nations of ASEAN: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

As part of Dragon Trail’s Corporate Social Responsibility commitment, Jens Thraenhart gave a keynote presentation today to a workshop for Cambodian travel agents and tour operators to advice on how social media can be leveraged for sustainable tourism development and marketing, organized by SNV (Netherlands Development Organization) and CATA (Cambodia Association of Travel Agents).

This week, Jens Thraenhart will join a technical tour, organized by UNWTO and SNV, in collaboration with the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office, to join global tourism experts to advise on the potential of Cambodia, and in particular the Mekong Discovery Trail as an emerging tourism destination. The focus to develop the destination in a responsible way is important to preserve the essence and authenticity, as well as giving back to the local community.

We do hope that at ATF, responsible tourism practices will be promoted, and that the organizers make sure that while tourism can offer significant economic benefits to the destinations, if not managed appropriately, severe damages may be a negative result.