Flooding Hit Cambodia’s Tourism Hub Again but Fine

Angkor Wat at darn.

Floods is covering Cambodian’s major tourism zone again this month, but the situation is less serious than last year’s deadly flooding, through better disaster management measures.

The continual raining and huge water-inflow from Thailand’s rivers have been pouring over some parts of Siem Reap, and Banteay Meanchey, especially Poipet city, which are the tourism hub and the main international gate that tourist can go across the border between Cambodia and Thailand.

Thanks to better preparedness, and awareness since late last year, the situation is manageable unlike last year’s flood that it arrived some major visiting sites such as Banteay Chmar temple, and even trapped many tourists there.

Cambodian authorities have been planning since early the year to better manage and mitigate the disaster, especially on the heart of the country’s cultural attraction such as Angkor Wat, and Poipet tourist gate that play crucial role to attract major arrivals.

Dikes, and many irrigation systems to protect and remove water from the safeguard areas, have been constructed, and now officials are facilitating water to flow out of those inundated areas along the pre-set water systems to pour into the Great Lake. 

Anyway, besides entering the Kingdom through Poipet gate, visitors can directly land on Siem Reap international airports by many far and near direct flights or enter via other land routes such as from Pursat.

Cambodia lost over $600 million, about 5% of GDP from last year’ flooding which hit 1.7 million victims in 17 provinces—a five times greater than the destruction caused by Ketsana hurricane that attacked Cambodia in 2009, according to ADB data.

 

In 7 months, 2012, Siem Reap was reported to welcome more than 1.5 million international arrivals, which is more than expected, and even more than the same period last year. Authority predict the province alone can receive up to 2 million end this year, but it is optimistic that this home of Angkor Wat can see more than 2 million arrivals, as the 5 remaining months still stretch in the high season of the year.