Dates Set For 2017 Sea Festival In Kep

The sixth Sea Festival will take place in Kep province from December 22 to 24, according to a government statement issued this week.

Prime Minister Hun Sen officially opens the Sea Festival last year in Sihanoukville. KHMER TIMES / SUPPLIED.jpg

The event, which will be officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Hun Sen on December 23, welcomes local and international tourists to the scenic province of Kep to celebrate the beauty of Cambodia’s coastline. The date was agreed during a meeting last week between Thong Khon, the Minister of Tourism, and Ken Satha, the governor of Kep province.

“The departments involved and the different stakeholders need to cooperate to organise tourism sites, improve the beauty of the streets and public spaces,” said Thong Khon. “The tourism community needs to make all necessary preparations to ensure the success of the event. We should make the festival a model for hygiene and quality standards in the country.” 

Ho Vandy, the secretary-general of the Cambodia National Tourism Alliance, urged provincial authorities to take care of the safety tourists. He also asked that outdoor toilets and rubbish bins be made accessible during the event. “The place must not become a horrible mess. All of us have an obligation to protect the environment,” added Vandy.

According to the governor of the province, in 2016 Kep province received a total of 1,097,168 tourists, an increase of 1.63 percent year-on-year. The number of international tourists reached 53,733, a rise of 5.07 percent. In the first nine months of 2017, 967,522 international tourists visited Kep.

This will be the sixth iteration of the event. Last year, the festival was held in Sihanoukville and attracted 500,000 visitors.

This article was originally published in the Khmer Times. [democracy id="83"]