Tourism / Preah Vihear temple

Chatrudee Theparat

Entrepreneurs and local people in Si Sa Ket are in high hope to reopen access to Preah Vihear temple for tourism to re-energize its local economy.

They have urged the government to decide soon such reopening. The problem should be on the table. If successful, it would help revive the local economy, with an influx of tourists and more spending.

Wanpiti Seehapong , 29, and Witchayut Thammaboon, 32, the owner of Piti Farmily, a lodging near the border to Khao Phra Wihan National Park, where is the entrance to Cambodia’s Preah Vihear temple, said the reopening of the temporary checkpoint will help to boost tourism in Si Sa Ket and nearby provinces.

The Piti Farmily is situated in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket, on the highway no. 221, only 1.5 km from Khao Phra Wihan National Park. It is surrounded by the paddy field and garden fruits and previously attracted visitors to see it during the winter and rainy season.

Ms Wanpiti, an English graduate, and Mr Wichayut, a journalism graduate, decided to return home in Kantharalak district to look for business opportunity in their hometown, driven by tourism. They decided to run their own business after working in a corporate event organizer in Bangkok for three years.

“We were freelance and required to work every day in the company. One day, I wondered how our life was at the old age, therefore we decided to return home.”

Then, they decided to set up a small kiosk in front of their home to sell lava durian between May and June.

“During the tourism high season in the winter between November and December and the rainy season from July to October, the road was congested with vehicles because of an influx of visitors into Khao Phra Wihan National Park, so we decided to sell coffee, mama and grilled pork to the visitors,” Mr Witchayut said.

As a rising demand of lodgings, therefore, we opened a Thai barbeque shop and a camping site offering its service for only 10 days per year. The business was lucrative so that they could collect some money to reinvest in their small restaurant and lodging business.

Their lodging was named “Piti Farmily” and a small restaurant was opened. The two small properties are situated on three rai and run for four years, with five tabernacles and eight small lodgings which can accommodate 50 guests per day.

“We launched the lodging service in the first year of Covid-19 in 2020 and it was very popular among the visitors because Thai visitors could not travel abroad so they traveled domestically instead.”

In addition, they organize two times a year of a small music festival of folk song bands which can accommodate 400 participants.

“We’ are very happy to run a small business in our hometown that allow us to take care of our family and also create jobs among our relatives and friends at the same time.”

Ms Wanpiti said 80-90% of their guests reserved rooms via Agoda while foreign visitors missed understanding that they can visit Preah Vihear temple via Pha Mor E Dang. However, there was a drop of visitors last year due to weak economy and the growing number of new lodgings openings.

If the government reopens the temporary checkpoint to access Preah Vihear temple, the number of visitors may double. We hope there will be good news soon. Nothing to be finalized, a new construction of lodgings in the area starts to spring up.

Jitara Artsanjon, chief of Khao Phra Wihan National Park, said after a meeting with 40 vendors of food, beverages and souvenirs in the park, the group is quite confident that the number of tourists coming here will increase if the locked check point is unlocked.

There were 170,000 visitors to the park last year and 200,000 visitors before the Covid-19 pandemic which generated income to the park of 7-10 million baht a year. The number of foreign visitors are around 1,500 per year.

“During the opening of the park, the number of visitors peaked at around 700,000, but its number faced a drop to 300,000-400,000 a year before the conflict over Thailand and Cambodia incurred in the border in 2008.”

Mrs Jitara said Si Sa Ket province has set up a task force to oversee preparations for the reopening, with representatives from the private sector, Provincial Administration, Customs Department, Immigration Bureau, National Park’s Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department.

“The task force resolved problems as major concerns among related agencies. Today, they are ready to move ahead our operations, once the temporary checkpoint is reopened.”

Sawat Lunphong, chief of the natural resource management division of the Khao Phra Wihan National Park, projected that an additional 150 million baht revenue will be earned annually, up from 10 million baht if the reopening temporary checkpoint, benefiting to the country economy.

The park ranked top five among national parks in Thailand, the visitors can enjoy sunrise at Pha Mor E-Daeng, while the tourism plot is stood on the top of Khao Phra Wihan National Park on the Thai side, was once an entrance to the ancient ruins, but the gate has been closed since 2011, the others are a relief carvings on the rock in the cliff area, and twin stupas.

The others are astronomy activities to see the milky way of moonset time to see mountains range in sea of fog.