Ayanna Runcie

At its first meeting this year, the Public-Private Sector Working Group on Tourism sat down at the Ministry of Tourism last Friday to once again address unfair competition from tourism-related businesses that are not licensed or registered, as well as plan out upcoming fairs and events.

Luu Meng, co-chair of the government-private sector working group, said that the group was working on finding a way of formalising tourism-related businesses, given the Tourism Minister Thong Khon said that only 40 per cent of tourism businesses were registered in Phnom Penh.

“I think a lot of businesses are talking about the minister’s announcement that about 40 per cent of people have [a] licence and he is thinking of working on that to make everyone better,” Meng said.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/tourism-operators-decry-unlicensed-rivals

Just how much does a license cost that makes those with a license unable to compete?

The cost of a Cambodian Tour Agency license is around $350- $500 per year. + a deposit of $5000. I ran a tour Agency in Siem Reap for 5 years.
No suprise that Tour operators dont like unlicenced tours undercutting their prices. I left the business in 2014 partly for this reason as it was impossble to compete with the unlicenced operators.

They really need to drop the prices on licensing. It literally makes owners elites who hire lackeys at a lackey's pay.