Opinion - News Analysis   

Tourist invasion threatens Angkor Wat

Justine Smith

Conservationists say the visitors' onslaught is damaging the treasures irreparably.

IT HAS survived the collapse of the sophisticated civilisation that built it, centuries of consumption by the suffocating jungle, and the nihilism of the Khmer Rouge. Now, Cambodia's awe-inspiring Angkor Wat complex is facing the biggest threat in a millennium — the fastest-growing tourist onslaught of any World Heritage site, which conservationists warn is already damaging its treasures irreparably.

In 1993, after the complex was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List, just 7,650 intrepid visitors ventured to the site. Last year, Sokimex, the oil company controversially granted the entrance concession on behalf of the government's Apsara Angkor management, sold almost 900,000 tickets worth $25 million, with the biggest contingents of travellers being South Koreans, Japanese, North Americans, and Britons.

Three million visitors are expected in 2010.

Teruo Jinnai, UNESCO's top official at Angkor, said: "We are very concerned by this unprecedented, uncontrolled acceleration, which is damaging the monuments and the local environment. Preservation of the park for future generations has to be the number one priority, over and above commercial exploitation, which is mainly benefiting foreign interests instead of the local population."

Kerya Chau Sun, director of tourism at Angkor, said: "We are finalising regulations for controlling visitors. We will train guards to watch the temples and educate visitors to help us protect the monuments."

However, John Stubbs, who has spent 15 years working at Angkor with the New York-based World Monuments Fund, said: "Tourism is already out of control, and unless the Cambodian Government takes some pretty radical action to rein it in now, much of Angkor's magic and heritage could be lost forever." The five-tiered Phnom Bakheng hilltop temple, one of the most significant relics of the ancient Khmer civilisation, is one of the most endangered of the park's 40-plus monuments. More than 3,000 tourists clamber up its narrow stone staircases every evening, manhandling sandstone carvings as they jostle for a sunset view of Angkor Wat.

Mr. Stubbs said: "It simply cannot survive this daily assault. Unless it is completely closed off for essential repairs, Phnom Bakheng will suffer critical damage."

The World Bank warns that other temples in the complex, including the spectacular Bayon with four-faced Buddhas carved on its 54 towers, are sinking into their sandy foundations as the hospitality industry drains underground water reservoirs.

Crass commercialisation

Meanwhile, the site's serenity is being overwhelmed by crass commercialisation, from the Las Vegas-style shopping malls in the mushrooming town, Siem Reap, to a gaudy Angkor theme park just outside the complex.

So can the well-meaning traveller experience the splendours of Angkor without contributing to its decline? Jarrod Kyte, U.K. manager of Gecko's Adventures, which offers an eco-tour helping clean up rubbish at the site, said: "We train local guides to make sure our clients know exactly how to dress and behave and we use locally owned restaurants and hotels." —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2007

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

A conspiracy of silence
An assault beaten back
Tackling the crisis of child malnutrition
Tourist invasion threatens Angkor Wat
In China, now great ride forward
Shock and war — what a forecaster doesn't need
On media freedom
Welcome
Back to some basics of communication

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu