Subject: Tourism Threatening Angkor - SBS (Aussie)
TOURISM THREATENING ANGKOR 9.9.2005. 11:01:37
A special report from SBS World News Australia correspondent Jason Om who has recently travelled to Cambodia.
Cambodian heritage experts have warned that the ancient wonders of Angkor in the country’s north are coming under increasing pressure from a tourism boom.
The impact of over-development in nearby Siem Reap, one of Asia's fastest growing holiday destinations, is being felt under the very foundations of the Angkor Archaeological Park.
The site is home to several hundred temples that are dotted across 400 square kilometres of forest, including the famous Angkor Wat which appears on Cambodia’s flag.
Every year hundreds of thousands of tourists throng the park and the numbers are growing.
It’s posing a dilemma for the APSARA Authority, Cambodia’s peak body for protecting Angkor.
Deputy Director Ros Borath says the tourists are not a problem if they are accommodated.
“But if the half a million tourists we have now increases to 1 or 2 million,” he says, “then we will have to restrict visiting hours."
To stop looting and vandalism there are special heritage police and guards on patrol, and to prevent wear and tear APSARA has installed wooden boardwalks.
Signs around the temples tell people not to smoke and not to sit on balustrades, but some visitors ignore the rules.
“It’s hard to control the tourists,” APSARA guard Chin Than says, “Sometimes when we ask them not to do something, they scold us.”
For now, there are no plans to shut the temples to visitors.
The rapid growth of the gateway to Angkor, Siem Reap, poses a different threat - the city's ever-increasing use of underground water is causing the temples to sink.
Khmer engineers have found that the water table, which has long kept the sand underneath the stones damp, is drying up.
As it does so, the ground is crumbling, causing the stones to shift.
"We need to control water use,” Mr Borath says. “For example we shouldn't have a golf course such as the one in Siem Reap that uses 3000 litres per day.”
But many of the locals depend on tourist dollars.
When taxi driver Phirum started working in Siem Reap ten years ago, there were only three hotels, but now there are more than 50.
"Tourism makes the people happy and lets us to do business easily,” he says.
“It brings prosperity for the future. If there are many visitors I can earn around US$10 (A$12) a day. Some days I earn nothing."
The most pressing need now for authorities is to find the balance between economic development, and saving Cambodia's heritage from destruction before it is too late.
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