Phnom Penh - An ibis sanctuary established in Cambodia by the Wildlife Conservation Society was awarded Wild Asia's 2007 Responsible Tourism Award, the non-profit group said in a press release Tuesday. The prize, set up by Wild Asia, an organization working for the conservation of natural areas, rewards environmental responsibility in business.
The ecotourism project, located in Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary in the northern Preah Vihear province, protects the only known area where giant and white-shouldered ibises breed and can be regularly observed, the group's surveys found.
The giant ibis is Cambodia's national bird.
As Cambodia seeks to expand its foothold in the tourism market, the government has placed increasing emphasis on developing ecotourism as a strategy to reach this goal.
In 2007, Cambodia received more than 2 million visitors for the first time. The ibis sanctuary is four hours north of Siem Reap, the gateway to the Angkor Wat temple complex, the nation's largest tourism attraction.
The other two winners of the 2007 awards were a resort in Kerala, India, and an ecolodge in Indonesia.
