Cambodia’s Angkor temples see visitor numbers and income plummet as deadly border clashes with Thailand deter tourists during peak season.
SIEM REAP: Tour guide Bun Ratana has seen his income plunge by around 80% this month as deadly border clashes with Thailand scare visitors away from Cambodia’s Angkor temple ruins. The UNESCO heritage site, normally bustling in peak season, lies unusually quiet just a two-hour drive from the conflict zone.
Bun Ratana has had more than 10 tours cancelled in December alone. He now earns just $150 compared to the same period last year, blaming renewed fighting rooted in a colonial-era border dispute.
Travel cancellations have left businesses desperate across Siem Reap. Founder of tour agency Journey Cambodia, Ream Boret, told AFP bookings were down significantly.
Outside Angkor Wat, tuk-tuk driver Nov Mao said his income had halved since the clashes began. The centuries-old stone structures are Cambodia’s top tourist attraction.
Ticket sales to Angkor were down at least 17% year-on-year from June to November, according to Angkor Enterprise. The decline spiralled after July’s five-day clashes killed dozens.
T-shirt vendor Run Kea said local and foreign tourists have “disappeared” unlike past Decembers. “I think they may be scared… I am scared too,” the 40-year-old said, adding she was only making a fraction of her usual earnings.
Tourism makes up around a tenth of Cambodia’s GDP, with a record-breaking 6.7 million arrivals last year. The neighbours shuttered overland crossings after the dispute flared with fresh fighting in May.
In Bangkok, minivans that once shuttled tourists to Angkor Wat sit idle. Tour agencies told AFP that bus trips to the border had ceased, and uncertainty had hit tourism in Thailand too.
Thai owner of Lampoo Ocean Travel Prasit Chankliang said when customers ask about travel to Cambodia, “we can only tell them that they can’t go”. He added there was nothing they could say about when travel might resume.
Hospitality expert Arnaud Darc said disruption was concentrated in overland regional travel, not global demand. The CEO of Cambodia-based Thalias Group cited fewer Thai visitors but more Chinese arrivals.
Several foreign tourists at the temple complex told AFP they had not been put off. An American tourist called Dorothy said she felt “very safe” and was clued in to travel logistics.
German visitor Kay Florek arrived with her family despite hearing news of combat. “We are very happy that we came here and we feel safe at the moment,” she said.
Experts say fear persists, worsened by media reports and a blockbuster movie about internet scam networks run by criminal groups across the region. These scams have conned victims out of billions of dollars a year.
“Sadly, the reality on the ground is that Cambodia’s top tourism hotspots are safe — but the headlines have done damage already,” said Hannah Pearson, director of Southeast Asia tourism consultancy Pear Anderson.
She said Thailand had also recorded fewer visitors this year, “triggered initially by worries over scam centres” and worsened by the border clashes. Director of Siem Reap’s provincial tourism department Thim Sereyvudh admitted Cambodia’s reputation as a host of transnational scammers had hurt the industry.
But he was confident tourists would return to Angkor Wat after the fighting ceased. “The sooner the war ends,” he said, “the sooner they will come back”.
