If your clients’ holiday wish list runs to marauding around Indiana Jones-esque temples and trampling through dense jungle, with a spot of kicking back on a stunning white sand beach to boot, then Cambodia might well be your answer.
It’s also great value on the ground, with a fascinating history and a great culture, flavoured with French colonial influences, and represents a fantastic off-the-beaten-track alternative to more ‘touristy’ destinations.
Cambodia may not be at the front of many agents’ minds but with the likes of Wendy Wu Tours, Kuoni and Travel 2 now featuring it, alongside adventure travel specialists such as Intrepid and Explore, it’ll pay to get up to speed with this fascinating country.
Indeed, even locally based operators are targeting the UK trade, like Indo-China specialist Buffalo Tours, which sells in the UK through operators including Bridge & Wickers and Qantas Holidays, and recently opened a UK office.
Background
Cambodia has had a troubled recent history. After suffering substantial damage to its infrastructure during the Vietnam war, its society was ripped apart in the late 1970s during the rule of the Khmer Rouge, when an estimated two million of its population perished.
Phnom Penh’s Tuol Sleng Museum, housed in a former torture centre, and the nearby Killing Fields, where a lone memorial comprising a glass column full of skulls can be found, act as chilling reminders of this brutal period.
In recent years, the government has looked to tourism to address some of its ills and build on the fame of the jewel in its crown, the vast Angkor Wat temple complex, a popular add-on to tours from neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam.
Its current campaign encouraging visitors to ‘Stay Another Day’ and venture farther afield on roads less travelled is being helped by recent improvements in the road network.
Former sleepy coastal backpacker havens such as Sihanoukville have been transformed into buzzing resorts. And visitors to Siem Reap, the base for exploring nearby Angkor Wat, can now stay in luxury accommodation like the Tara Angkor Hotel and the Hotel de la Paix which, with its 107 rooms and sumptuous spa offering traditional treatments, claims to offer ‘a hip combination of art deco and Khmer design’.
Future plans include developing Koh Rong into an environmentally planned resort featuring an international airport, a seaport, a marina, three golf courses and a range of accommodation from three to five-star.
But despite the new developments the country retains a spirit that will attract clients looking for adventure.
“As a tourist destination, I’d describe Cambodia as unspoiled, beautiful, peaceful, friendly, undeveloped yet emerging,” says Wendy Wu marketing executive Nimali Samarasinha, who spent two months in Cambodia this year.
“Its sights are breathtaking, like the temples of Angkor; thought-provoking, like the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Museum; relaxing, like the beaches of Sihanoukville; and wild and untouched, like the nature around Banlung in the Ratanakiri province. And its cities are beautifully colonial.”
When it comes to selling Cambodia, Samarasinha advises agents not to try to sell it as an emerging alternative to Thailand, but to pitch it to clients who are genuinely interested in culture, nature and history.
Tours and active
On a typical Cambodia tour, travellers will land in the capital Phnom Penh, a vibrant city home to great food and the stunning Royal Palace. From here they can fly to Siem Reap or take the popular boat journey up Lake Tonle Sap – an adventure in itself.
The massive Angkor Wat temple complex has long been Cambodia’s must-see star attraction. Travellers should ideally spend at least two days here to get a real feel for the scale of the site.
There’s more to do than temple spotting, however. For example, Buffalo Tours’ Hidden Cambodia tour includes a balloon flight over Angkor Wat and horse riding through temples, along with cruising on a sampan down the Mekong and the River of 1000 Lingas, travelling to Silk Island, and cycling through untouched villages.
Cambodian resorts are not as developed as their counterparts in Thailand, or even Vietnam, but Sihanoukville, around a three-and-a-half-hour drive from the capital Phnom Penh, and home to sandy delights such as O’Tres Beach, has morphed into a lively resort with numerous good-quality beachfront dining venues.
Other highlights include laidback Kep, once a popular playground with the top-rung French colonialists, Koh Kong, and the many offshore islands such as Bamboo Island and Rabbit Island.
Cambodia operators
In its new 2011 Far East brochure, Kuoni’s Cambodia Overland tour includes a stay in the 4 Rivers Floating Eco-lodge in Koh Kong, near the Tatai Waterfall, accessible by boat or trekking through the mangroves, in addition to trips to major sites like Angkor Wat.
The Adventure Company has a range of trips that take in Cambodia, including a 16-day Lands of the Mekong tour to Cambodia and Laos (from £1,919 including flights). Its 16-day Magic of the Mekong family holiday also takes in Laos and Cambodia (from £1,899 adult / £1,619 child, including flights).
Plus, for 2011 it has amended its Hanoi-Saigon itinerary – one of the top trips in its Adventure Company Collection range – to include an Angkor Wat extension, as well as time in Phnom Penh.
Trips offered by sister brand Imaginative Traveller include land-only options like a 10-day Cambodia in Depth tour (from £550) and six-day Cambodia and Ancient Angkor (from £330).
In addition to its Cambodia and Vietnam twin-centre tour Angkor to the Bay, Wendy Wu Tours offers a 15-day fully-inclusive escorted group tour, Around Cambodia, leading in at £1,990, fully inclusive from the UK, taking in Phnom Penh, Kep, Sihanoukville, Battambang and Siem Reap.
Themed breaks are also increasingly popular. For 2011, Hounslow-based Destination Cambodia, which typically offers agents net quotes so they can charge their own price, is expanding its programme to include biking and cooking holidays, as well as multi-centre holidays incorporating Laos and Vietnam.
Intrepid is another company offering cookery classes, for example in Battambang. Clients get to rummage for ingredients at a local market and try Khmer dishes.
Sample product
Intrepid Travel’s top seller is its 15-day Heart of Cambodia tour, from £695 (land-only). Starting in Phnom Penh, it takes in Angkor, dramatic scenery and the French-colonial charms of Battambang, topped off with a relaxing stay at Sihanoukville (below). Group sizes are up to 12 and departures are guaranteed. intrepidtravel.com, 020 7354 6170
Wendy Wu’s Angkor to the Bay tour, which leads in at £2,490 per person fully inclusive from the UK, offers a wide range of Cambodian experiences, such as Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh, combined with Vietnam highlights like visiting Saigon and taking a Mekong River cruise. Clients can add on a three-night stopover in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from £490 per person. wendywutours.co.uk, 0844 499 3899
Kuoni’s 10-night Cambodia Overland tour takes in Siem Reap (four nights), Battambang (two nights), Phnom Penh (two nights), and Koh Kong. Prices for 2011 lead in at £1,975 per person, based on two sharing, including Thai Airways flights from Heathrow, resort transfers and some meals. kuoni.co.uk, 01306 747008
