#Cambodia - Kep tourism to receive facelift as two islands are pegged for development

 Kep provincial officials are planning to improve 1,800m of shoreline and develop two islands which are less than 10km from the coast.

 The government is studying the development of the beach in Kep province, in southwestern Cambodia, to assess its tourism potential.

Kep province is a coastal area located more than 175km from Phnom Penh and the government believes it has tourism potential thanks to its beaches, national parks, mangrove forests, corals and seagrass.

Kep provincial Department of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction director Vao Sokha told The Post on Thursday that his team is studying improvements to the nearly 3,000m Kep Beach to turn it into a public beach to attract more tourists.

Upgrades will be developed from the Crab Market to the mangrove community area in Prey Thom commune, in Kep town.

“We have already designed the beach and are studying the socio-environmental impacts on the communities living along the coast,” he said.

Kep province now has only one official beach with a length of 350m, and it is yet to meet the needs of tourists. He said the beach is too narrow and needs to be upgraded, including road construction.

The government is studying improvements to another 1,800m of the beach from Kep beach to the Vietnamese coast. “Kep province has great potential for tourism. If we do not develop it, how can we attract tourists?” Sokha asked.

In addition to the coastal area, Kep province has 13 archipelagos that are attractive natural tourist sites. Two of the islands have been granted by the government to a private development company – Koh Tonsay Island (also known as Rabbit Island) and Por Island.

Koh Tonsay Island is a beautiful island that is only 4.5km from Kep beach. Por Island, which lies 7.5km off the coast, has not been developed so far, said Sokha.

At a meeting to prepare the Kep provincial Tourism Development Master Plan in May, Ministry of Economy and Finance undersecretary of state Ni Phally said the master plan would make Kep province an attractive destination for local and global tourism.

“The draft will be completed by the end of July and will be submitted at the Inter-Ministerial Commission meeting in August,” he said.

A Ministry of Tourism report said Kep province welcomed about two million international and domestic tourists last year – up 4.24 per cent from 2018.

Source - Phnom Penh Post

Vietnam considers partial resumption of international flights

The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) is proposing a partial lifting of the suspension on international flights starting June 1.

It has mentioned the need to revive the hit-hard aviation industry in rationalizing its proposal.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The has asked CAAV and the ministry's Department of Transport to study the resumption of international flights with limited frequency, giving priority to foreign experts and investors, while ensuring strict maintenance of anti-pandemic measures.

The move comes after Vietnam has gone 22 clean days without coronavirus community transmission and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has allowed resumption of more "non-essential" businesses except karaoke parlors and discos.

The PM has also asked localities to accord top priority to economic recovery.

Vietnam has banned entry of foreign nationals since March 22 and international flights have been suspended since March 25. In certain special cases, as in those with diplomatic or official passports, or coming for special economic projects, foreigners are allowed entry, but they need to present a Covid-19 free certificate from a recognized authority in the country of embarkation and must undergo a 14-day quarantine.

Vietnamese carriers on Thursday were allowed to remove social distancing restrictions on aircraft and limitations on the number of passengers. Passengers were previously required to sit one seat apart, except for families and people booking tickets together.

Dinh Viet Thang, director of CAAV, said local market and international market would recover by the middle of 2021 and the end of 2021 respectively. According to the transport ministry's estimate, the number of air passengers this year could fall by 46 percent to 43 million.

Due to the international flight ban, Vietnam received 3.7 million foreign visitors in Jan-April, a 38 percent drop year-on-year and the tourism industry earned revenues of VND7.9 trillion ($337 million) during the period, down 45 percent.

Vietnam’s infection tally rose to 288 after 17 Vietnamese repatriated from the UAE were confirmed positive on Thursday night.

The country has more than 16,500 people in quarantine, those that have returned from abroad and those who have come in contact with the returnees. Of these, 162 are quarantined at hospitals, 6,600 are staying at centralized camps and the rest at home or other accommodation facilities.

Source - VN Express

Indonesia still largest contributor of tourists to Singapore

Every year, Singapore will present various kind of leisure activities, which include sports, entertainment, culinary events and art activities.
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About 2.89 million Indonesians visited Singapore throughout 2016, the biggest contribution of tourists to the city state, about 17.7 percent of the country’s 16.4 million total foreign tourist arrivals, according to a statement released by Singapore Tourism Board (STB).
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The number of tourists from Indonesia grew by 6 percent, which was categorized as a sharp jump from the 10 percent decline in 2015, the statement says.
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STB area director to Indonesia Raymond Lim said on Tuesday in a media gathering in Jakarta that his office would continue trying to attract more Indonesians to visit Singapore.
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“We really hope that we can maintain what we had last year,” he said, adding that about 30 percent of Indonesians who visited Singapore went there for business.
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However, to boost the numbers of tourists from the eastern part of Indonesia, the board will hold roadshows in Palembang in South Sumatra and in Medan in North Sumatra in March and April, he said, adding that it would continue the roadshows in Bali in August and in Sulawesi in September.
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Lim said the board aimed for 16.4 to 16.7 million foreign tourists to visit Singapore in 2017 and expected revenues of between US$25 and $25.8 billion. (yon/bbn)

Source TheJakartaPost
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