Kampot to Have Own Tourist Terminal

• 31 December 2015
• Local News
• 1315 Views

Cambodia’s coastal zone will receive more tourist visitors after a tourist ferry terminal project financed by Asian Development Bank (ADB) goes on line by 2020.

In a loan package of US$18 million, approved by the ADB on 25 November 2014, the project will build a marine ferry terminal on 4 hectares of land between the border of Teuk Chhu district and Kampot City. Construction of the terminal will begin in 2015.

Besides the marine tourist port that was announced by the government few years ago, the fund also targets the construction and rehabilitation of other infrastructure in southern Cambodia to open up new opportunities for tourism beyond current popular destinations like Siem Reap.

The loan will also finance the upgrading of rural roads, and improve wastewater management in areas with well-preserved Khmer and colonial architecture, including Kampot province and seaside towns in Kep and Koh Kong provinces, according to the ADB’s press release dated 25 November.

At least 375 micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises are expected to receive business support services from the fund, together with capacity building for government sector agencies, including the Ministry of Tourism.

The project will also facilitate private investment to run international ferry services from the new pier and provide a model for using tourist entry fees and charges to finance maintenance of public facilities.

The project, which will run for about 5 years with an estimated completion date of December 2019, complements similar initiatives being carried out in Lao PDR and Vietnam. It is part of a broader regional push to expand cross-border tourism in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, which has seen international visitor arrivals growing by an average of more than 12% a year, generating revenue of over US$44 billion, and providing about 7 million jobs.

Tourism is booming in Cambodia with visitor numbers exceeding 4.2 million in 2013. The industry provides around 800,000 jobs and contributes 12% to the country’s gross domestic product. However tourism and its benefits are mainly concentrated in Siem Reap and the temple complex of Angkor.

Inadequate transport infrastructure in secondary destinations, weak market linkages between the tourism industry and other sectors, and limited capacity to promote tourism have held back Cambodia’s ability to tap the sector’s full potential.

“The development of this passenger pier will support an increase in tourism in southern coastal areas and help establish a new gateway between Southern Cambodia, Vietnam and other destinations in the Gulf of Thailand,” said Eric Sidgwick, Country Director, ADB Cambodia Resident Mission.

Kampot Governor, Khoy Khun Huor, told local media that the terminal would help stimulate economic activity in the province and promote tourism among neighboring countries. “We really need a tourism port to link the tourism industry of our three countries – Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. When it is finished, we can attract more tourists from not only from Vietnam but also from Thailand. It will serve as the tourism hub at this coastal area,” he said.