Cambodia's tourism sector requires deeper collaboration between the government and private sector to become more competitive and sustainable, according to Thourn Sinan, Chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Cambodia Chapter.
Speaking in a social media post on Wednesday, Sinan said the two sides are indispensable partners. While the government can set policies, it cannot create the market alone, and the private sector can attract visitors but cannot build a sustainable destination on its own.
“Tourism thrives when the government and private sector stop seeing each other as separate sides and start working as one team toward a common destination,” he said.
Sinan argued that disagreements between the government and private sector are not the main obstacle. Instead, the real challenges are the lack of dispute resolution mechanisms, insufficient trust, and the absence of shared goals.
The government's role includes policies, regulations, infrastructure, safety, travel facilitation, and the investment climate. The private sector contributes markets, investment, products, services, innovation, jobs, and practical insights into visitor experiences, he explained.
“When the two sides work separately, policies may fail to respond to market needs, while markets may grow without clear direction,” Sinan said. He added that cooperation can turn disputes into dialogue, policies into action, products into market demand, competition into cooperation, one-time visitors into repeat visitors, and tourism destinations into sustainable tourism economies.
Sinan stressed that tourism is not the responsibility of a single ministry, association, or company, but a national economic ecosystem requiring shared vision, shared responsibility, and shared benefits. “Cambodia does not lack tourism potential. What we need is to turn that potential into competitiveness through stronger public-private partnerships,” he emphasized.
His remarks follow a progress review meeting of the Government–Private Sector Forum Working Group ‘B’ (Tourism) held last week, chaired by Minister of Tourism Huot Hak. The meeting, attended by about 150 participants, aimed to review progress, address challenges, respond to private sector requests, and identify measures to restore the resilience of Cambodia's tourism sector.
“The Royal Government of Cambodia has continuously introduced intervention measures to support the private sector. At the same time, the partnership between the public and private sectors is an indispensable force for turning challenges into opportunities and restoring momentum to Cambodia’s tourism sector,” Hak said.
Source: Khmer Times
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