Tour guides voice concern over app that will offer audio tours

In local news affecting Cambodia, the recent launch of a multilingual audio tour app presents concerns for jobs in the tourism industry mostly concentrated in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. A country containing several UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Cambodia’s economy relies predominantly on tourism and it expects to receive 6.2 million tourists in 2018 alone, a significant percentage increase from last year.

In an effort to maximise local resources at a rate that is able to match the rapid growth in tourism, a local company has developed an audio tour program mobile application that tourists can download. It provides commentary in 14 languages on major historic sites in Cambodia and is already currently in use at various historical locations throughout Cambodia. Although set to be launched next year as a paid app, 30 000 users are currently involved in the testing phase. This technological development seems to facilitate a more sustainable scaling of tour guide numbers in response to the rapidly growing sector.

However, many Cambodians make a living precisely out of being tour guides. Approximately 10 000 tour guides work in Cambodia; they have strong oppositions towards the introduction of such an app as they think tourists would prefer the convenience of a mobile application over a local tour guide. One tour guide interviewed in the article predicts that “if the app finds a large enough audience, it will directly affect their incomes.”

Unemployment is a huge concern when it comes to the introduction of new technology such as this that is aimed at automation. The concerns aired by the Cambodian locals suggest a double-edged sword that comes with modernity and globalisation – such movements also come at the expense of pre-existing norms, such as the well-established pool of tour guides who rely on this already-unpredictable job for income.

An interesting point to note is the role of the ministry (or state) in negotiating the various stakeholders. This article highlights a disjunction between local interests and the demand of the global audience. I think that it is inevitable that a mobile application like this would surface especially since it solves much of the larger problems surrounding tourism, at least to the state. However, it is also important to see how such steps taken during this period of technological innovation affect local interests – it requires a constant negotiation between different actors.

Source: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/tour-guides-voice-concern-over-app-will-offer-audio-tours