Cambodia Sets July 11 as the National Day for Beach Cleaning

Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, has announced to set July 11, the date that Cambodia is admitted to the World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club, as the National Day for Beach Cleaning.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 9th Congress of the World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club, the 2nd CLMV Tourism Ministers Meeting and the 32nd GMS Tourism Working Group Meeting held last Friday at Kampot coastal province, Samdech Techo Hun Sen also wished that the “Beach Cleaning” campaign launched on the same day under the theme of “Love Blue Sea, Clean Sandy Bay” be organized on weekly, monthly and yearly basis in order to inspire greater participation from the public in cleaning the beaches through building awareness of the people and related stakeholders on the significance of the beach.

The Cambodian premier further called for attention from the Ministry of Tourism to the development of the emerging diving tourism, and supported projects relating to the development of this sector, for instance, the creation of the underwater park, in order to protect and preserve the bio-diversity resources, ensure the sustainability of the underwater ecosystem, contribute to development of tourism sector for the interest of people who are living on those natural resources by selecting the regions of Koh Rong, Koh Rong Sonleum and areas surrounding the O Tres Beach for the first phase of development.

In addition, Samdech Techo Hun Sen recommended that the development of island investment projects approved by the Royal Government of Cambodia should comply with master plans submitted to the Council for the Development of Cambodia, and encouraged development of the islands as large-scale ecotourism destinations. “The development of islands must be equitable in order to make sure that the local people can benefit from this development. Furthermore, it is necessary to implement the ‘tiger skin’ policy to ensure that development will not affect the settlement and livelihood of the local people,” he underlined.

Samdech Techo Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Tourism to quickly set up vocational training program specializing in beach tourism, in order to respond to the rapid growth of tourists and enhance the quality of tourism services to live up to its reputation “Cambodia Beach: Rising Star in the Southwest.” He also took the opportunity to thank the French Agency for Development for collaborating with the Ministry of Tourism in setting up this training school in the region of Cambodian beach.

Cambodia’s coastline stretches about 450 kilometers in four provinces – Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong, Kampot and Kep provinces. It became member of the Club of the World’s Most Beautiful Bays in mid-2011. In the first ten months of 2013, the number of international tourists visiting the coastal areas reached 420,000, an increase by 84 percent if compared to the same period last year. The Cambodian coastal region is projected to welcome 1 million and 2 million foreign visitors in 2015 and 2020 respectively.

Sourced: AKP