Ministry and communities want to promote birdwatching tours

Pearaing Bird Sanctuary, located about 12 kilometers southeast of Siem Reap, is a peaceful home to more than 175 unique species of arboreal and wetland birds. These birds include milk storks, pelicans, purple and gray herons, great egrets, black-headed ibises, and many others.

Kong Mongkol, the president of the reserve, expressed the concern of the entire community about the low number of visitors to the ecotourism site. He noted that the reasons for the lack of visitors to the reserve are insufficient infrastructure, lack of financial resources and legal support from local authorities. This was reported by khmertimeskh.com.

"We do not have legal permits to build on this territory from local authorities and relevant ministries. Some ministries support us, while others do not. This creates huge problems for us in developing the area to attract tourists," Mongkol added.

He asked for legal assistance, as well as for the government to give more power to the community to improve this ecotourism destination to attract tourists and development partners.

"We need the support of local authorities and national recognition to change this place to attract more tourists. This way we can seek more investment, which will lead to better development and more tourists," he said.

He noted that most local visitors come to the reserve because they still cannot meet international tourism standards.

"We have not registered with online travel agencies, we have not registered with booking apps, we have not built proper facilities for visitors. Therefore, it is difficult for us to attract foreign tourists here," says Mongkol.

During a tour of the bird sanctuary, tourists can enjoy a sense of nature, and a boat tour slowly floats around one of Tonle Sap's wetlands and allows visitors to observe various endangered waterfowl.

At the request of the community, the Ministry of Tourism often supports bird watching tours and encourages visits to Cambodia's bird sanctuaries.