Cambodia and Myanmar are discussing a plan to attract tourists to ancient temples in both nations.
The plan will encourage people to visit Cambodia’s Siem Reap province and Myanmar’s Bagan province, where each country’s most famous temples are. The campaign will be branded “two countries one destination”.
In Thoeun, deputy director-general at the Cambodian Tourism Ministry, said his officials are working with their counterparts in Myanmar to finalise the details of the Angkor-Bagan Tourism Cooperation, the Khmer Times reported on Tuesday.
The move came after tourism ministers from both sides met recently in Siem Reap.
“Our working group, which includes private sector representatives, is seeking understanding of the tourism industry in Myanmar,” Thoeun said.
Ministers of the two countries are scheduled to sign a deal on working together at the Asean Tourism Forum in 2018, according to the Myanmar Times.
“We will negotiate a bilateral agreement for an Angkor-Bagan tourism integration plan,” Kyaw Swa Min, a member of the working group committee for the Angkor-Bagan Tourism Cooperation said.
“Angkor Wat and Bagan are similar in natural features and were founded in the same century. They are also quite unique. That is why we grouped them for development as one destination,” he said.
Thoeun said Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon met with his Myanmar counterpart for talks over boosting tourism cooperation after Emirates Airlines unveiled daily flights from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon in Myanmar.
“It brings us a chance to link Cambodia’s heritage sites with Myanmar’s,” he said.
Ho Vandy, secretary-general of the Cambodian National Tourism Alliance, welcomed the move, which he said could expand Cambodia’s tourist market.
“The campaign will boost tourists between the two countries,” Vandy said. “It is a good model of development for the tourism industry, similar to what we already have with Thailand.”
The Emirates flights will contribute a lot to the plan, Vandy added, bringing tourists from Europe and the Middle East to Myanmar and Cambodia.