The danger of tourism in Cambodia and other contries. How tourism in Cambodia can actually weaken a country and its micro economy

Learn how tourism can create social tension within the population and weaken its people. Tourism in beautiful nature rich contries has often become an important resource of revenue. However there are a few most dangerous factors to consider when expanding tourism too fast or too much at all.

Danger of tourism to social peace within a country

Tourist revenues only are for a tiny small percentage of a country. Financial benefits above all reward hotel and tourist service oriented businesses as well as the government and related administration directly. The wide population has nothing at all or only a tiny tip now and then from the Millions of tourists entering a country each year. As a result, administration and richest of a country get richer and richer, the poor remain as poor as ever, farmers work hard for no reward at all and the prices for most daily products are spoiled by rich tourists and skyrocket to a price level unaffordable by the average population. That very definitely is true for Cambodia and many other current tourist destinations world wide.

As the gap between poorest and richest grows, so does the social tension within a nation. The ultimate result of such tension was last seen in Kampuchea during the post war time of 1975-1979 during the Pol Pot regime. Social tension resulting from one sided profits for a tiny minority of wealthy and mighty ones vs the average fight for bare survival and basic needs of life within normal rural population leads to such heights of emotional abuse and dissatisfaction that a sudden eruption of such long time accumulated and artificially built up social tension may lead to an most violent eruption.

The longer tension is suppressed, the more violent its final eruption and relief

Such building up of inner tension, of social tension between an entire nation may best be compared to the build up of tension and energy within a "sleeping" volcano. Sleeping for years, decades or centuries we suddenly may witness a most violent and most destructive eruption of a "sleeping" volcano.

Another example might be the build up of tension within an earthquake zone such as for example California. These years any time another major earthquake may be expected. For decades quiet and prosperous California may be turned into ashes and ruins within hours - within a single earthquake to come. The result of such fatal and most destructive earthquake is a slow but steady build up of tension within the earth's surface and rocket formations underground. A build up destined to explode unless tension is relieved in time.

The same build up of social tension results from one sided politics within a country. Most countries suffer such inner tensions and many countries create relief by various more or less destructive methods including change of government by electing opposite parties, change of government by means of revolution, or as in 1975 by Pol Pot by letting all accumulated aggression and pain experienced during many decades explode in instant atrocities against the believed origin of the problem. In latter case of Pol Pot the origin apparently was the intellectual society, foreigners, the richest and mightiest ones of old Cambodia living and accumulating wealth at the expense of farmers and poorest ones.

Rich people only can achieve wealth by exploitation of working force and by suppressing a majority of its population. In a truly loving society there is neither rich nor poor but all are very similar in wealth. Such mutual wealth may grow much slower but steady and lasting. When mutual benefits are more important than temporary benefits for a minority group at power, then the beginning of inner peace within a nation starts to form and grow.

Danger of tourism as a source of revenue

People need money. That is what people are made to belief by marketing experts and politicians. Hence people search money oriented revenue sources and industries. In truth however people need to fulfill only their true basic needs of life, such as:

• healthy natural food
• healthy natural living environment
• affordable health care for all - health care NOT medical care !! Most medical emergencies could be prevented at much lower cost by proper health care - at no benefits for pharmaceutical and medical society however!
• social peace
• freedom to move onward in life
• freedom to evolve and progress
• freedom to change life, to nomad, to change work, to change residence, to change life
• all above affordable to ALL

All above only is possible on the basis of true love. Without true love no government can achieve above environment and factors of life necessary to create a stable and happy society without any force, a society without authority, without suppression, without 2 level society = rich and poor, working and benefiting part of a people. Most current governments on this entire planet lack the sincerity to have the true wellbeing of its entire nation as the only political goal.

The political goal of every elected government normally is a temporary highest possible profit during a period of ruling a country. Benefits for a few at any cost to the entire nation.

Tourism is one such short time revenue source benefiting a few, offering employment to a few thousand of its people - at least for a while. Those being employed are happy - happy for the moment because temporarily such government employees around the world have a job, pay and thus have the financial security for their family. Family support and family wellbeing is a major factor for adults. Most are ready to do almost anything, from joining armed forces and going to war against unknown fathers and mothers including their small children, far from home just for the sake of getting money to support their own family to many other jobs having nothing else but money earning as a goal.

The dangerous side effect of tourism jobs and administrative jobs is that they all know how to earn money in a short term artificial industry. But once this industry is gone for whatever reason - for example as a result of our currently ongoing global economic meltdown, the jobs may be cut due to missing money coming from a shrinking number of annual tourists. Finally some tourism employees may lose their jobs and find themselves empty of any true job qualifications needed to survive in a trouble time.

In reality all the money earned is used up in full for food and to pay all a.m. basic needs in life. Instead of learning how to earn money, a population also could learn how to directly fulfill its a.m. basic needs for life by expoloring mutual coop joint ventures, helping eachother on people's level human to human without government involvement. People could and should learn again to help each other, to honor each other, to honor each other's services and products and to become a fully active member of ONE society at ONE level. All being involved in food production, services needed, creation of products for daily true needs of work and life - thus instead of earning money, people can learn to create true value services and true value products in exchange of services and products made by others but needed by all.

The longer a person works in tourism, in office jobs, in administrative jobs, the more all natural or trained skills to perform farm work, handicraft, mechanical work, technical work and other useful skills are being lost. Contact to nature and to real life needs is lost year after year. Latest after one generation - when all the babies are born into city households, all contact to nature and to real life needs has been totally lost and such city population has become a slave of the modern society and industry. No longer capable to self-sustain for a happy life in dignity and in harmony with God and God made nature.

There are alternative methods of limited tourism. In a later chapter I may elaborate more indepth on modern / future forms of tourism for the mutual benefit of tourists and the entire host nation as well.

Love and Bliss

hans