Cambodia, Myanmar launch initiatives to attract Chinese tourists

(ECNS) -- Both Cambodia and Myanmar have launched various initiatives to attract more Chinese tourists.

The Tourism Ministry of Cambodia launched the “China Ready” assessment system last Friday as a new move to achieve its year’s goal of attracting 80,000 to one million visitors from China.

The system will help the Cambodian tourism industry certify the quality of related services.

The “China Ready” plan, which is customized for Chinese tourists, has set up five service standards in seven areas including hotels, restaurants, tour guides and other tourism practitioners, tourism agencies, resorts, supermarkets, and souvenir shops, increasing Mandarin-speaking services as well as the use of Mandarin on product tags.

Officials of the Tourism Ministry of Cambodia said the plan will improve the country’s services while it plans to lure more Chinese tourists via “Cambodia-China Friendship Year” with a series of celebration events.

Statistics show that in the first half of this year, Cambodia received a total of 2.57 million foreign tourists, with Thailand, Vietnam, and China as the three major tourist sources, among whom 268,000 were Chinese.

It is estimated that Cambodia will attract five million overseas tourists this year.

Compared with Cambodia, Myanmar has organized a series of promotion events to boost tourism exchanges with China.

Its Union Minister for Hotels and Tourism U Aung Thaw praised China as the most reliable market for Myanmar to develop tourism and expected the return of Chinese tourists. Myanmar would use platforms like the Lancang-Mekong Tourist Cities Cooperation Alliance to publicize itself.

According to People’s Daily, Myanmar  signed a memorandum with China’s Jilin Province on July 25 to strengthen cooperation and exchanges to promote trade and economic cooperation between the two sides.