“Because passenger demand has been increasing every year, we have changed to a big new plane, that will start flights on the 27th of this month,” said Pen Vanndarong, sales and marketing executive at Korean Air.

Ministry of Tourism statistics show South Korea was the largest source of travellers to the Kingdom in January, with 42,939 arriving in the month – a 36.9 percent increase on the same month a year previous.

But Pen Vanndarong said he also noticed a rise of tourists from Japan and other regional countries wishing to use Korean Air’s flights.

“Last year, we had difficulties finding seats for our passengers. That why we changed to a larger plane – tourist demand is increasing,” he said.

The new aircraft is a 280-seat Airbus 330-300, nearly double the capacity of its 149-seat Boeing 737-800.

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Bigger planes heading to Kingdom

The airline was granted a two-year licence to operate last month and completed a flight from Siem Reap to Taiwan late last week, packed with tourists and business people, according to the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation.

The firm has leased two Boeing 737 planes from the United Kingdom and is backed by Cambodian, Taiwanese, Singaporean and British investors, according to SSCA.

Officials did not identify the backers involved.

Sin Chanserey Vutha, director of the planning and policy department at SSCA, said the company had set out a plan to operate regular flights to three destinations – Taiwan, South Korea and Vietnam.

“We hope that the regular flights will help [attract] more tourists and investors to Cambodia,” he said, detailing that the company will initially offer one daily flight to Taiwan.

Flights to domestic tourist locations such as Sihanoukville – which now has no regular flights running to its re-vamped airport – and Phnom Penh would be considered as the next step.

Ou Serey Sopheap, a Tonle Sap Airline official, today confirmed the company’s first flight, stating that at the moment its planes were chartered.

Meanwhile, the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents welcomed the news.

Ang Kim Eang, president of CATA, expressed hope that in the future tourists would be able to utilise the planes to ease passage to Siem Reap.

He added that previously there had been no direct flights to Taiwan.

The SSCA said in December that it also planned to license a company called Indochina Airline. Sin Chanserey Vutha said today that its application was being examined but had yet to be confirmed.

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Tonle Sap Airline takes off

Hotels from the K4 region of Kampot, Kep, Koh Kong, and Preah Sihanouk) provinces said they were full for the holiday, despite the temporary increase in prices. Golden Sand Hotel in Sihanoukville has been fully booked for two weeks, according to Accountant Executive Hang Vannaren.

“We’re full now, we have no room for customers,” she said. The hotel normally prices rooms at US$30, but rooms cost an extra $10 to $15 during the holiday.

“It’s not only our hotel increasing prices. Every hotel in Sihanoukville is increasing the prices as well.”

Crystal Hotel employee Samnang Makara echoed claims that seaside hotels were fully booked. “[Our hotel] is full – we cannot receive any more customers,” she said.

Ministry of Tourism director of the Tourism Industry Department Prak Chan Dara said yesterday that the ministry had urged hotels not increase prices over International New Year, celebrated on January 1, in order to boost customer satisfaction and trust in the prices.

“We announced not to increase the price on New Year’s in order to help customers feel relaxed, and come again next time,” he said.

Hotels in Kampot and Kep provinces also said they had no vacancies, with many adding they had increased prices.

Chan Rina, general manager of Brise De Kep Guesthouse, said they were fully booked from December 25. “We have no more places for guests to say,” she said, adding guests were almost entirely foreigners.

“We only increased prices by 10 percent, and it’s only during big festivals in Cambodia – on others days the price is normal,” she said.

Kampot River View guesthouse was seeing an influx of tourists, with the hotel raising prices by US$5 to $6 a night, according to employee Oeung Sophorn.

Luu Meng, president of the Cambodian Hotel Association, said the increase was mostly in coastal areas.

“There’s a simple reason they increase prices during the festival … on that day, the hotel often pays its staff double to work during the holiday,” he said.

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Coastal hotels raise prices despite request from Tourism Ministry

Tith Chantha, Director General of Tourism Ministry, was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying that presently Cambodia has 438 hotels with 25,000 rooms, but will require 40,000 rooms in 2015 and 70,000 rooms by 2020, he says. The tourism sector could generate as much as US$4 billion in revenue in ten years.

At the mean time, according to Ministry statistics, China is the fourth largest source of tourists to Cambodia. Some 140,000 Chinese had visited Cambodia in the year to October, a 41-percent gain on the period from a year earlier, statistics show. Private sector representatives echoed hopes that the sector will grow.

Previously, Cambodia signed visa exemption with most other Asean members, excepting Brunei and Burma. At the end of 2008, Cambodia and Vietnam also signed visa exemption.

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen also said at press conference that now is the time to strengthen and promote a good relationship between the both countries, by narrowing disputes and widening resolutions and cooperation.

It is expected that visa exemption will help boost the tourism between the two nations. During the first nine months of 2010, around 60,000 Thai tourists have visited Cambodia but drop 9 percent in the same period last year.

Two planes set to purchase are 168-seat Airbus 321s, according to a price list compiled by the French maker cost about USD95.5 million each.

Soy Sokhan, undersecretary of state at the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, the organisation in charge of the Cambodian side of CAA, said yesterday that the purchases were planned for “late 2010 or early 2011”, reported the Post.

The company’s initial investment was worth USD100 million under a 30-year-agreement. And there are only two planes-ATR-72 aircraft and an Airbus 321- operating in 16 daily flights serving Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City.

Around 70 business owners on this beach are ordered to remove by June 30. If not meet the new deadline, authorities will evict them and are not responsible for their property.

“The authorities will not let the residents build houses, sell and rent to private [interests] because the area beach is owned by the state. Some of them make the area dirty and do not have manners.”

On Wednesday, business owners vowed to protest the pending eviction and they said that the authorities did not give time sufficient time to find other ways to support themselves.

Cambodia applied for membership t an organization called the World’s Most Beautiful Beaches Club on April 30, which was established in Berlin in 1997, and certified 30 beaches in 22 member countries.

Minister of Tourism, Thong Khon, said during the meeting held in Preah Sihanouk late last week that “we hope Cambodia’s beaches will be officially recognized as member of the World’s Most Beautiful Beaches Club next year because our coastal area has protected natural resources which are a big attraction, reported by the Post.

To become a member, a country must fulfill requirements, which include requiring its beach to have projects in place to protect natural resources, be an attractive natural area and have the potential for economic development.

Peuy Saroeun deputy governor of Anglong Veng district was quoted by the Phnom Penh as saying that “we have wished to make this a tourist site for a long time, but we did not get official approval. Now that we have official approval, our dream is coming true.”

“It will be useful for the people who live here. They can make a living by selling their goods to tourists in the future,” he added.

Nhem En has long had plans to put his Khmer Rouge-era possessions – including what he says are Pol Pot’s shoes, walking stick and toilet – in a museum in Anlong Veng, though last year he decided to offer them up for sale for US$1 million. That attempt was unsuccessful, according to the Post.

The premier also appealed for direct flights between Cambodia between Cambodia and Indonesia as soon as possible.

The Phnom Penh Post quoted Tith Chantha, director general at the ministry of tourism, as saying that the technical teams from both countries are finalizing the process, with flights between Siem Reap and Borobudur on Java expected from April.