Cambodia the brand

I have just come back from an amazing two weeks in Cambodia. I was with Jake my son (13) We travelled from the tourist hot spot of Siem Reap  through the country to the far north east corner bordering Laos, before leaving via  a few days in Phnom Penh. It is an amazing place, The Khemers we met proved to be fantastically warm, honest hosts. The place has so much to recommend it. When I have a moment I'll write up our learnings/recommendations on Trip Advisor.

One thing that did strike me is that Cambodia is not unlike Mazda car brand. Mazda had a worldwide sales hit with the MX5 sports car, unfortunately so iconic did this model become but pretty much the whole of the rest of the range became over looked by the buying public. The subsequent advertising then lacked confidence as it became an endless string of 'look there is more' messages rather than strong individual model statements.

Visitors to Cambodia on average stay only three days, see the Temples at Ankor Wat and then fly on to Vietnam / Thailand. There is a huge debate amongst the fledging tourist authority as to how to get visitors to 'stay another day' The whole of Cambodia is pretty unique and unless they have the confidence to say so I feel they will always be saddled with the image of 'like the neighbours but with bigger Temples' i.e. only worth a few days excursion rather than a dedicated holiday.