Last month 171,668 foreigners came to Cambodia, Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said Monday at an inauguration ceremony for a new ministry building in Phnom Penh, a 9.98 percent rise on last August when the Kingdom received 156,098 overseas tourists.

“We can determine that Cambodian tourism is recovering due to a rebound from the global financial crisis,” the minister said.

August’s rise in tourists follows a 10.35 percent annualised increase for July after the previous six months of 2009 all saw year-on-year decreases in arrivals. For the first eight months of this year, tourist numbers rose 1.37 percent compared with the same period last year, Thong Khon said Monday.

However, the figures mask the fact that high-spending tourists from areas including Europe are still in decline as the developed world struggles to recover from the global economic crisis, and that gains in visitors were made largely in regional tourists, said Kong Sopearak, director general of the ministry’s statistics office.

“Although we see the number of tourists from the region has increased, they do not spend much during their visit,” he said.

The ministry’s latest figures showed a 13 percent slide in air arrivals in the first eight months of 2009 year-on-year, whereas land arrivals were up 20.54 percent: Visitors from Vietnam rose 43.66 percent and from Laos a staggering 126.29 percent over the same period. Overall day arrivals climbed more than 50 percent in the first eight months of this year, the figures showed.

Visitors from the United States increased slightly, by 2.26 percent in the first eight months, and from the United Kingdom 15.1 percent more visitors came to Cambodia during the same period.

However, Japanese visitors were down 14 percent, and those from South Korea – previously the top visitors to Cambodia – slid 31.23 percent up to the end of August this year, the data showed. Visitor numbers from Australia were also down – 5.38 percent during the same period.

“It just declined by country – our main tourist markets are still doing well,” said Kong Sophearak.

However, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation to Phnom Penh last week said recent figures, if taken at face value, painted a distorted picture of what would appear to be a tourism recovery in the Kingdom.

The IMF projected a contraction for the tourism sector in the second half of the year at a press briefing last week, citing a double-digit decline in air arrivals and reports from hotel operators of a “sharp reduction” in occupancy rates and forward bookings that are “sharply down” from last year.

“We don’t have a lot of reason to be optimistic with regards to near-term performance in this sector,” said David Cowen, deputy division chief at the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department.

Headline arrival numbers were a poor gauge of tourism sector fortunes, he said, as an increase in same-day arrivals had masked a drop in tourists from key countries including South Korea and Japan.

“Tourism is up but driven by regional tourists, particularly from Vietnam where the waiver of visa fees has made it an attractive destination,” he said. “Air arrivals are down and air arrivals are typically going to bring you higher-spending tourists.”

Despite the IMF forecast, the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents (CATA) said Monday that it remained optimistic about the rest of the year.

“Although tourist numbers merely went up just over 1 percent … it is better than a drop…. It is a good sign,” said CATA President Ang Kim Eang, referring to the first eights months of 2009. “I think our sector will get better over the next few months because the global economy is now in recovery.”

Source : Phnom Penh Post

Only three countries categorised as least-developed had been admitted to the global organisation since it was launched in 1995, he told officials from the WTO, World Bank, the European Commission and United Nations as they met in Phnom Penh with trade representatives from 12 LDCs to discuss ways of speeding the entry process.

“We think that it is time we faced the problem, and it is also time we re-examined the systematic problem more thoroughly because these admission problems can cause negative effects for the development of the future members of the organisation and can also be an obstacle for balance in the organisation,” Cham Prasidh said.

Trade representatives from Cambodia, which was admitted to the WTO in 2004, were joined by counterparts from fellow LDCs Cape Verde and Nepal in giving advice on entry procedures to negotiators from 12 of the least-developed countries in Asia and Africa at the three-day meeting that concludes Wednesday.

The countries – Afghanistan, Bhutan, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Laos, Sudan, Vanuatu, Yemen, Comoros, Liberia, Samoa, and Sao Tome and Principe – are among 29 negotiating to join the WTO.

Cham Prasidh said he expected Laos to be granted full-member status at the seventh WTO Ministerial Conference, which will be held in Geneva over three days from November 30.

Finance Minister Keat Chhon said he expected the accession of the remaining LDCs to be a major issue at the ministerial conference, but that it is critical aspirants gain access to the benefits of trade liberalisation.

“Helping the remaining least-developed countries get accession into the WTO and thus the multi-party trade system will give them the equal and fair trade opportunities they need to reduce poverty and achieve their millennium development goals,” he said.

Keat Chhon added that the world economic crisis had a disproportionate impact on LDCs that were excluded from some of the trade advantages WTO membership conferred.

“We think that WTO membership is a very attractive opportunity that can bring positive economic results to all countries that are proposing to join this organisation,” he said.

The meeting came after developing nations pleaded Friday for progress in the long-languishing Doha round of global trade negotiations as the leaders of 20 major economies met at a G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In a statement issued at the summit, emerging powers such as China and India, along with the WTO’s least-developed nations, said the poor were particularly hurt by the global economic woes.

The conclusion of the Doha round would boost confidence in the world trading system, “prevent the rise of protectionism and provide a much-needed boost to the global economy,” they said.

“It is time now for real leadership and strong action in order to meet the 2010 goal” of a free-trade agreement, they said.

The Doha round of negotiations, named for the Qatari capital where they started in 2001, collapsed last year amid major disagreements between developed and developing nations. But recent talks in New Delhi agreed to the resumption of high-level dialogue aimed at jump-starting negotiations.

Emerging economies are pressing rich nations to curb politically sensitive support for their farmers, which poorer nations contend distorts the global economic system

Source : Phnom Penh Post

The deal ends an exclusive arrangement between UK network operator O2 and the Californian phone maker, which has been in place since 2007.

Orange said its customers would be able to buy the phone “later this year” but did not specify a date or pricing.

However, analysts said that in markets where there was already competition there was little difference in handset prices but small variations in tariffs.

“There’s not a lot they can do – they are subsidising the hardware, so they can’t afford to do much on the tariff,” said Carolina Milanesi of Gartner.

“You may see a £30 per month tariff versus £35, but I would not expect anything more.”

Data jam

Orange recently revealed plans to merge its UK network with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile to create a business with 28.4 million customers.

If given the go-ahead, it would be the UK’s largest provider, overtaking Telefonica’s O2, with about 37% of the mobile market.

“That would be good for Apple,” Dave McQueen, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms and Media told BBC News.

“Then, around three quarters of the UK market will then have access to the iPhone.”

O2 has offered the handset in the UK since its launch in 2007. In February, it said it had sold more than one million of the handsets.

The launch of the latest iPhone 3GS in June significantly boosted sales, with many stores running out of stock.

The phone has also allowed the firm to win subscribers from other networks, according to analysts.

However, the rise of smartphones – which have the ability to surf the web and send e-mail – has put a burden on the O2 network, according to Mr McQueen.

“IPhone users to tend to use data quite extensively – perhaps more than anticipated,” he said.

“Orange has always a good data network and if the T-mobile deal goes through it would allow them to share the burden.”

O2 will continue to sell the handset in Britain, alongside iPhone rival the Palm Pre.

The Palm phone, described by some as an “iPhone killer”, will be available exclusively to O2 from 16 October.

O2 said that it always knew that its exclusive deal was for “a limited period of time”.

The new agreement with Orange brings the UK into line with many other countries around the world which have multiple operators that offer the iPhone.

In countries where exclusive deals still persist, such as the US, some customers choose to “unlock” their phones using third party software so they work on an unlicensed network.

However, Apple has warned that the practice can cause “irreparable” damage to a handset and has engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse, releasing periodic software updates which prevent unlocked phones from working correctly.

Source : BBC

The “affirmation of commitments” will reportedly give Icann autonomy to run its own affairs for the first time.

Previous agreements gave the US close oversight of Icann – drawing criticism from other countries.

Earlier this year, the EU called on the US to relinquish its control and Icann to become “universally accountable”.

“The US government is the only body to have had formal oversight of Icann’s policies and activities since its inception in 1998,” it said.

“The Commission believes that Icann should become universally accountable, not just to one government but to the global internet community.

“This is particularly relevant given that the next billion of internet users will mainly come from the developing world.”

The current agreement between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) and the US Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration is due to expire on Thursday.

‘Formal relationship’

Icann is a not-for-profit private sector corporation – set up by the US government – which oversees critical parts of the internet, such as the top-level domain (TLD) name system. Top level domains include .com and .uk.

The body recently voted to relax the strict rules on TLDs, meaning companies could turn brands into web addresses, while individuals could use their names. Icann also agreed to introduce domain names written in Asian, Arabic or other scripts.

The regulator has not yet released details of the new agreement with the US.

However, a report – described as “accurate” by people familiar with Icann – in the Economist magazine says the new deal does not have a fixed term.

It identifies a number of groups, including representatives of foreign governments, which will conduct regular reviews of Icann’s work.

The panels would specifically focus on competition among generic domain names, how domain-name registrants’ data are handled, network security and transparency, and accountability and the public interest – the only panel on which the US will reportedly retain a permanent seat.

A formal announcement about the deal is expected on Wednesday.

However, it is unlikely that the new agreement will sever the links between the US government and Icann entirely.

Rod Beckstrom, president and chief of the organisation, said in a letter to Congress last week that it would seek to maintain a “long term, formal relationship with the United States Government”.

The body also has a separate agreement with the US – to run the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) – that expires in 2011.

The IANA oversees the net’s addressing system.

Source : BBC

The new approvals included three agriculture and three industrial projects, said the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), the government’s chief investment body.

The names of the companies behind the proposed investments were not disclosed.

In August last year, the government approved $652 million worth of investments, and the first eight months of 2008 saw the approval of $8.992 billion worth of investment projects.

Youn Heng, deputy director of the Evaluation and Incentive Department at the Cambodian Investment Board (CIB), a body of the CDC, said he was too busy to comment Friday.

He said last month that although the number and value of applications was falling due to the economic crisis, a few very large project approvals contributed to heavily inflated investment figures last year, including a $3.8 billion proposal, the largest approval last year, by Chinese company Union Development Group Co to build a coastal development in Koh Kong.

Kang Chandararot, director of the Cambodia Institute of Development Study, said the drop in approvals in tourism and real estate was being offset by a investments earmarked for the agriculture, industrial and agro-industrial sectors.

The International Monetary Fund projected Wednesday that foreign direct investment in Cambodia would be worth $490 million this year, down from $815 million in 2008.

Source : Phnom Penh Post

The international financial organisation made the warning Wednesday as it presented its findings from two weeks of discussions with government ministers and senior officials on economic and financial developments in Cambodia.

David Cowen, the deputy division chief in the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, told reporters that “healthy deposit growth” meant there was “ample liquidity” in the banking system, but that high rates on deposits could dent profitability given a slowdown in new lending.

“We have expressed some concern that these high deposit rates may have some impact on bank profitability going forward if banks are not able to intermediate this liquidity into new lending opportunities,” he said.

“Much of the deposits that have come in this year are currently being held in the banks’ excess reserves at the NBC National Bank of Cambodia, and those reserves are remunerated at a very low level.”

Stephen Higgins, chief executive officer at ANZ Royal Bank, said the lack of an interbank market, where banks make surplus funds available for other banks to borrow, and the low return offered by the NBC were an issue.

“In a normal interest-rate environment, where we were earning a decent return on our surplus funds, we wouldn’t be complaining about too much money,” he said.

“In the current environment, where the NBC pays something close to zero, because it is dictated by the US federal funds rate, yet we are offering customers a lot more than that, then yes, you could say we have too much money. That is why we’ve reduced our deposit rates over the last few months, to try and bring our surplus liquidity position to a more efficient level.”

Higgins added that the lack of “attractive lending opportunities”, which he defined as customers with sufficient cash flow to finance repayments, was the biggest problem facing the sector.

“There are some attractive lending opportunities out there, and we have a fairly attractive pipeline of opportunities, but not enough to absorb the surplus liquidity that we have,” he said.

The IMF’s findings came in stark contrast to its last fact-finding mission, which concluded in November last year. At the time, the fund warned that the country’s banks were facing liquidity shortages due to a sharp slowing in external inflows and deposit growth. Cowen said last week the NBC had done a “good job” in terms of helping manage liquidity risks over the last year but added that “it remains a concern going forward for us given still volatile conditions in global financial markets”.

Source : Phnom Penh Post

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said the money, which will be provided through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), would provide a welcome boost to the economy given the impact of the global economic downturn on Cambodia.

The original bilateral agreement, signed last November, called for $6 million in funding. Sok An said the increase reflected “improved cooperation between Cambodia and the United States of America” and would “help strengthen the relationship between the two governments, particularly in the field of economic cooperation”.

Under the amendment, inked on behalf of the US government by USAID Mission Director Flynn Fuller, the government is expected to provide $425,000 of in-kind support.

The money will be used to expand USAID’s Strengthening Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Cambodia project, which aims to alleviate poverty in rural areas.

The programme has helped over 3,000 farmers increase their sales by between 100 percent and 340 percent, according to a press release from the US embassy.

US Ambassador Carol Rodley said USAID funding not only helped business growth but also provided a boost for living standards in rural areas. “I have been working side-by-side with Cambodian colleagues, and we have helped thousands of rural entrepreneurs,” she said.

Source : Phnom Penh Post

State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) Secretary of State Mao Havannal said the decision was made to give a boost to the new national carrier Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA), which made its maiden flight on July 28.

“Now that we have our own domestic airline, Bangkok Airways will not be allowed to continue their flights when the agreement finishes on October 25,” he said.

Bangkok Airways has been flying four flights daily between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap since taking over the route last November when its subsidiary, Siem Reap Airways, was grounded by the SSCA.

SSCA Cabinet Chief Long Chheng said Thursday that the body sent Bangkok Airways a letter last week informing it of the decision.

Bangkok Airways Acting Country Director Amornrat Kongsawat was not available for comment Thursday.

A representative of the airline in Bangkok who did not want to be named said she was unaware of the issue, but added that affairs in Cambodia did not come under her jurisdiction.

SSCA Director of Operations Kao Sivorn confirmed that the decision was a commercial one to support the new national carrier.

“Before, we allowed this airline to operate domestically because we did not have a local company, but now we have, so we will not let them continue,” he said.

However, he added that the airline would be able to negotiate a code-share agreement with CAA so that its passengers could continue flying between the two destinations.

Mao Havannal also ruled out a return to the skies for Siem Reap Airways, saying it still did not comply with “the proper standards”.

The airline, which was founded in 2000, was grounded last year amid concerns over safety standards and financial irregularities after an audit by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. The audit found that the airline did not comply with Cambodian airline regulations, including safety standards, and also raised concerns over the ability of Cambodian civil aviation authorities to enforce international safety standards.

A source within the SSCA told the Post in June the audit found Cambodia in breach of 107 international standards and said it would ban all local airlines if action was not taken, leading to the decision by authorities to take a tough stand against Siem Reap Airways.

The European Commission also banned Siem Reap Airways from operating in the European Union last year due to safety concerns, even though the airline did not offer service to Europe.

Soy Sokhan, an undersecretary of state at the SSCA who is in charge of all matters related to CAA on behalf of the government, said the end of Bangkok Airways agreement would “give us the chance to get more passengers”.

Source : Phnom Penh Post

The company hopes the website refresh will boost both traffic and revenues.

Yahoo will also open its home page to rivals, allowing users to integrate third-party web services like Facebook or Hotmail into its portal.

Yahoo has been struggling to turn its position as the world’s most popular website into profits. The portal is the first move of new boss Carol Bartz.

From openness to profit

When Yahoo first announced its relaunch plans, many analysts derided the idea, arguing that most web users now ignore portals and use search engines to go directly to the page they want.

However, the vast majority of Yahoo’s customers still go to the portal first, insists Yahoo’s senior vice-president for Europe, Rich Riley. That also makes it the most attractive place for Yahoo to sell advertisements.

“Frontpage adverts are incredibly powerful,” said Mr Riley, and can cost millions of dollar for a single day of global advertising.

At the same time, Yahoo believes that a new openness to rival brands will actually increase its profits.

The new “customisable applications” allow users to see a snapshot of their favourite websites and services within the Yahoo portal – whether it is a social networking site, a rival web mail service, or their favourite website.

This is supposed to make the Yahoo portal “stickier” and the centre of web users’ internet experience.

Fittingly, the advertising campaign has the catch phrase “It’s Y!ou”, featuring the exclamation mark that is part of the Yahoo brand.

“The new home page is a powerful way to get a view into your life on the internet,” said Mr Riley, quoting surveys that suggest that 60% of Yahoo users in the UK want a one-stop shop to organise their life on the internet.

In the United States and the United Kingdom, a majority of users have already been testing the new website, but from 23 September the new look will be the default worldwide.

“We expect more traffic, the number of unique users to go up… an increase in audience engagement and more repeat visits,” which in turn will drive advertising income, said Mr Riley.

Partnerships

The new portal, however, also has an unprecedented number of links to non-Yahoo websites, potentially taking traffic away from Yahoo’s sprawling network of news, weather, finance, email, messaging, and picture services and more.

In the UK, for example, the Yahoo website features top headlines from the Telegraph, Guardian and Daily Mail newspapers.

Since the beta version of the Yahoo website was launched in the UK, Yahoo has become the second-largest source of online traffic to the Telegraph’s website, said Mr Riley.

Yahoo is getting a share of the advertising revenue generated by this traffic to partners.

Ten focus markets

The $100m advertising campaign accompanying the relaunch is global, but will focus on 10 key markets: United States, United Kingdom, India, France, Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Canada.

The strong emphasis on emerging markets reflects Yahoo’s belief that it is “where the next billion people are coming online”, according to Mr Riley.

The portal’s relaunch is accompanied by an overhaul of the user interface of Yahoo’s search engine, which does not yet profit from Microsoft’s new search engine Bing.

The results page of Yahoo’s search engine will show not just the usual list of search results and sponsored links, but also a left-hand navigation that helps users to narrow down their search further.

In July, Microsoft and Yahoo agreed a deal that will see Yahoo’s websites use both Microsoft’s search technology and search advertising.

Yahoo in turn will become the sales team for banner advertising for both companies. However, the deal still awaits regulatory approval and is not expected to be finalised before spring 2010.

Unlike rival and erstwhile suitor Google, Yahoo has been struggling to turn its dominant position on the web into comparable profits.

During the three months to June, Yahoo made a mere $141m profit on revenues of $1.57bn.

The change of direction is driven by new chief executive Carol Bartz, who replaced co-founder Jerry Yang in January this year.

Some, however, have never been busier, including French expatriate Herve Nicole’s quad bike tour business, the only one of its kind in town.
Nicole’s theory is that, although tourists are happy to cut costs when it comes to where they stay or what they eat, they are not ready to cut back on activities that make their trip memorable.

“If they are bored visiting temples or bored at their hotel, they will make an effort to spend money to have activities, for sure. If they don’t have a lot of money, instead of staying in a US$300-per-night hotel they may sleep in a $30- or $40-per-night hotel and will be able to afford the quad bike to have a good time.”

It was Nicole’s boredom with Siem Reap’s temples that helped spark the idea for his business. After running the Sala Bai Hotel School in the town for two-and-a-half years, he was ready to try something new.

“I wanted to do something that nobody had done, and I had the idea of the quad bike because I remembered the first time I came to Cambodia … I was bored after one day.

“So I said to myself ‘maybe it would be a great idea to take … people to see the villages and the children in the Siem Reap area, through … tracks that they can’t reach by normal transport.

“So I imported the quad bikes from the United States, and that was the beginning of the story.”

This is now
That was over two years ago, in May 2007.
After a modest campaign including online ads and flyers placed in a select few local businesses, the tours immediately proved popular. His client base includes tourists from all over the world, with most customers between 30 and 45 years old, Nicole said.

“I don’t want people who want to race and be dangerous in the villages. Everybody is so happy to see the bikes because we have a lot of respect for the locals. For people that use the quad bikes, it’s more a mode of transport, and it’s a fun way to go to see something interesting.”

Following rave reviews, word-of-mouth is now the chief way of attracting customers, he said: “Maybe 80 percent of my customers come to my tours now because they have a friend who came already.”

He now has a fleet of 12 quad bikes, and plans to buy another eight vehicles next year. Nicole believes the upfront costs of the business, and the “nightmare” of maintenance, may have kept away competitors.

“I imported these bikes. There is no warranty and, if something breaks, I have to fix the problem by myself. I have to buy new spare parts, which are very expensive. I have to pay the custom duties. I have to pay for the transport. I have to pay for everything. It’s really very expensive. You can buy the same model in China for much cheaper.”

So why did he opt to import from the US? It’s a trade secret, he said, declining to give details of his reasoning.

Though he still hasn’t recouped his investment, Nicole hopes to be profitable within the next three years – he will raise prices next year, he said, to help cover costs.

Source : Phnom Penh Post