The simple answer is yes, it is a renewable resource. The complicated answer is no, tourism is like a loaded gun, if you point it in the wrong direction someone could get hurt. There are too many examples of attractive destinations becoming over developed to a point of total desolation. Like mining and forestry if tourism is not managed carefully soon there will be no resource left at all. Kampot has been isolated even longer than most other parts of Cambodia and has only just begun to take aim at its tourists. Local businesses and government agencies are in a unique position to influence the types of tourist that would be attracted to Kampot. Already a great many come to see the natural beauty of the river, bay, and mountains surrounding the city. They come to see the old town with its crumbling colonial architecture. They come to take the rough road up to Bokor Hill Station. Often they come to spend some time volunteering for a local project helping the Khmers to better their own lot. Tourist and Ex-pats alike have found Kampot a nice respite from the chaos of Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Sihanoukville. Existing businesses are already doing a good job of catering to these visitors and they should work together in anticipation of greater numbers that will be coming. By working together they can influence the government to promote sustainable development projects and share in the resulting preservation of Kampot’s culture and environment for decades to come. By seeking only to secure their own piece of the tourist pie they insure that they will only be a lot of crumbs held together by their own dough.
(Editorial for the Kampot Dar'laing issue #3
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