The Ministry of Tourism has set a new strategy known as ‘BUILD plus 3Ds’ to attract more international tourists and ensure the target set by the new government to achieve at least five million international travellers into the Kingdom by the end of this year.

According to Top Sopheak, Secretary of State and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) said that Sok Soken, Minister of Tourism has initiated an additional strategy to promote the country’s tourism sector to become a leading international destination for travellers. “The strategy was divided into two major improvements as ‘Five-Build and Three-Develops.”

Sopheak told Khmer Times that the ‘Five-Build’ included the promotion of the country’s popularity and greatness on the international stage, and increasing the ability to participate in more tourism international events aiming to promote the potential destination of the nation.

The third is to build tourism infrastructure to facilitate traveller transportation, and the fourth build is to increase tourism products involving eco-tourism, culture, history, and food, while the last build is to increase the resources and attractiveness of the tourism sector to compete with the global, he continued.

He stressed that the ‘Five-Build’ requires support from the ‘Three-Develops’ in which the first development involves administration and relevant institutions to facilitate traveller transportation, visa application, and border pass procedure. The second is the development of digitalisation in the tourism sector to keep up with competitiveness in today’s world and the last development shall focus on human resources improvement which is the most important pillar to challenge competitors around the world.

Soken asked officials to hard work to ensure the efficiency of the ministry and successfully achieve it within 100 days. He suggested relevant officials should improve the working environment, and well-being of civil workers, as well as increasing opportunities for communication and cooperation with stakeholders, the private sector, and development partners.

He also encouraged officials at all levels to contribute to the development of Cambodia’s tourism sector, especially to strengthen the capacity, skills, and talents of officials to promote the effectiveness of modern methods and technologies within the operations.

Last week during a meeting with factory workers in Takhmao, Kandal province, Prime Minister Hun Manet said that tourism is a priority and a very competitive sector. He drew a parallel between the garment sector and tourism industries equally, saying that the garment needs to export products to the international market while tourism needs to import international travellers back to the Kingdom.

The Premier called for expanding collaboration with the private sector, travel agent partners to promote potential destinations in the King-dom, as the neighbouring countries and even the ASEAN member countries are striving to attract as many international tourists as possible.