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Object of an enduring conflict between Cambodia and Thailand which flared up between 2010 and 2011 following its inception on UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008…
PHNOM PENH- Object of an enduring conflict between Cambodia and Thailand which flared up between 2010 and 2011 following its inception on UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, Cambodia’s Preah Vihear temple is experiencing a tourism recovery. According to the local Preah Vihear Provincial Tourism Department, first quarter of 2012 saw some 23,070 local and foreign visitors in the first quarter this year, a 31 percent increase from the same period last year. The constitution of a new government in Thailand with Yingluck Shinawatra accessing to the post of Prime Minister in July 2011 helped to diffuse tensions and conducted to a normalized relations between both Kingdoms. Foreign visitors are then also returning to the centuries-old Hindu temple. According to the statistics of the provincial office, the site recorded 2,070 foreigners, up 61 percent over the same period of 2011. Kong Vibol, chief of Preah Vihear Provincial Tourism Department, declared to Xinhua Press Agency that the tourism office is now trying to promote the temple’s potential and other cultural museum and tourism sites near the temple in order to attract more visitors: “we expect that the temple will become in the future the country’s second largest tourism destination after Angkor Wat temples”.
Tensions arose from the claim by Thailand that Cambodia’s sovereignty was not proved, despite a decision taken in 1962 by the International Court of Justice of 1962 which ruled out that Preah Vihear temple belonged to Cambodia. Thailand owns a 4.6 km2 area adjacent to the temple and has sent military troops to “avoid encroachment into its territory by Cambodia”. After serious clashes between both Cambodia and Thailand armies in 2011, a ceasefire was agreed with both countries agreeing to remove troops from the area surrounding the ruins. The International Court of Justice confirmed in July 2011 the sovereignty of Cambodia over the temple and asked military personal to withdraw from a 17-km zone around the temple. ASEAN observers moved then into the area to monitor the ceasefire. So far neither Cambodia nor Thailand has withdrawn troops from the exclusion zone.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
