Tourists are waiting for boats to carry them from a pier in Sihanoukville to Koh Rong islands last year.
The Ministry of Tourism has instructed associations involved with the tourism industry, tour operators and all stakeholders to use the Telegram BOT tourist registration system for tourism services across the country to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The tourism ministry’s circular, dated January 22 and obtained by The Post on February 22, states that Ministry of Health guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19 require all businesses to facilitate contact tracing of those who have direct or indirect exposure to a Covid-19 patient.
“All tourism service businesses nationwide are obligated to use the Telegram BOT tourist registration system that has been established by the ministry. They also must cooperate with to promote its use among their members,” the circular stated.
The tourism ministry’s circular confirmed that all tourism service businesses in the Kingdom must display a Telegram BOT tourist registration system sticker at the entrance of their business or someplace where it is easy for tourists to access.
Municipal-Provincial Departments of Tourism also have a duty to cooperate with the other departments of their municipal-provincial administrations to promote and monitor the implementation of this system in their areas of responsibility.
“Municipal-provincial tourism departments and associations in the tourism industry must make ongoing reports regarding implementation of this system within the tourism sector to the ministry no later than the second week of each month,” the circular said.
Let’s Go Travel Managing Director Noch Sophuong said the tourism ministry’s guidance was a good way to facilitate the collection of tourist data. But she noted that the ministry’s announcement was not yet widely known about. Some travel agents remained unaware of these instructions.
“I have requested that the ministry make this information widespread by posting it on social media with instructions in a timely manner. If someone doesn’t regularly check the ministry’s website, they won’t know this information,” said Sophuong.
However, Ministry of Tourism spokesman Top Sopheak said that the use of the new system was not difficult as one just accesses the Telegram app and joins the group.
“You just log in to Telegram and type the words “MOT customer information”, then click on “Join”, the same as when we join a public group.
The ministry has already conducted an in troductory workshop once already, and recently the ministry posted on Facebook about how to use this system too,” said Sopheak.
