• Society

The Morodok Techo National Stadium to Become an Attraction

• By Ken Gadaffi
• June 25, 2022 7:30 PM

Plans are to develop tour packages to attract visitors to the complex

PHNOM PENH--The Ministry of Tourism on June 23 unveiled its plans to turn the Morodok Techo National Stadium into a major tourist hub.

Choun Chey Satya, head of the Domestic Tourism Promotions Department at the Ministry of Tourism, said during a media briefing at the stadium that the ministry, in cooperation with the Stadium Management Committee, has been working on three types of tour packages for Cambodia’s most advanced sports facility located on the outskirts of the capital.

According to Satya, the packages are divided into three categories: Family Entertainment, Educational Tour and Sport Event.

“The Family Entertainment package is meant to bring in families, for them to enjoy and have fun using the facilities at the stadium,” he said. “The Educational Tour package is already happening, with numerous schools bringing their students to visit the stadium for learning purposes.”

The Sport Event package, Satya said, will enable visitors to receive all the services they need and visit other tourist destinations nearby after buying tickets for games at the stadium.

These tour packages, Satya pointed out, are in line with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s “Tourism Attached to the Land” strategy, which is designed to take advantage of the existing tourism-related structures and destinations nearby.

“A big part of the plan is to make the stadium the centre of tourism in the area,” Satya said. “In the future, more structures and services, such as river cruises, will be added to the packages.”

Safari World Phnom Penh, a zoological park that features more than 800 animals, and the Win-Win Memorial, a monument erected to mark the end of civil wars in Cambodia, are expected to be part of the proposed packages.

The Ministry of Tourism also announced the publication of a stadium guidebook, which will soon be available to the public in both hard and soft copies. “It will be very helpful to those who want to study the architectural structure of the stadium,” Satya said.

Minister of Tourism Thong Khon, who is president of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC), and Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith took part in the media briefing along with several officials of the NOCC and of the Cambodian SEA Games Organizing Committee (CAMSOC) for the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) to be held in the country in 2023.

“To be able to host the Southeast Asian Games and ASEAN Para Games is a great opportunity for Cambodia to showcase its capacity and status as a rising star in the region,” said Vath Chamroeun, secretary-general of CAMSOC. “It will also help boost the tourism industry, which is a major source of income for Cambodia.”

The Morodok Techo National Stadium, which was built through a $150 million grant from the Chinese government, was inaugurated in December 2021 by Prime Minister Hun Sen and Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian. Sitting on 16.22 hectares of land within the Ly Yong Phat development area in Phnom Penh’s Prek Pnov District, the stadium was designed to host national and international events and can accommodate 60,000 spectators. It features an Olympic-size swimming pool, a running track, an indoor sports complex, a cricket ground, a football field as well as other sports facilities.

Early this year, the Morodok Techo National Stadium was included among the top 10 stadiums in the world by StadiumDB.com, a Poland-headquartered online site that focuses on and is a leading authority on stadiums and related facilities across the globe.