Tourists walking around Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia. AFP/ Tang Chhin Sothy

Tourism: ‘One Service, One Standard’

Khmer Times/Ven Rathavong

Monday, 21 September 2015

PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times) – Construction on 2 tourism training schools will begin next year in Phnom Penh and Preah Sihanouk province. 

Speaking at the opening ceremony of a conference on clean resorts and good service yesterday, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said yesterday the government wanted to strengthen the tourism sector and increase skills levels to cater to a boom in arrivals over the next 5 years.

He added the government wanted to create “one service one standard.”

 “The quality of service is very important, but we need to enhance it by studying,” he said. 

The Tourism Ministry will work with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) to set up the two schools. “We are now moving forward, and we may start to construct them the next year,” he said, adding that the government would borrow $1.1 million for the construction and set-up.

Dr. Khon pointed out the government wants all students who pass the grade 12 exam to look at vocational training.

“Your skill is your life,” Dr. Khon said. 

He also said his ministry was cooperating with Commerce Ministry and Switzerland’s Shift 360 Foundation to organize a cooking school in Phnom Penh. 

According to Dr. Khon, foreign tourist arrivals increased 7 percent in 2014 about 4.5 million and the $# billion sector employed about 620,000 people. The country will need to increase the number of tourism workers to about 1 million to deal with the 7.5 million foreign tourists expected in 202.