Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Cambodia is adopting a 'dark' sort of Tourism scheme? What are we talking about here? I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Cambodia and Thailand offer very different marketing strategies. Quoting directly: "Whilst the Thai premier Srettha Thavisin is pushing for international tourist growth by traditional means, Cambodian authorities are adopting a "dark" visitor scenario which urges visitors to delve into the country's tragic past. The Cambodian Tourist Authority has upgraded facilities at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Choeung Ek Killing Fields, both based in or near Phnom Penh and the scene of atrocities associated with the Khmer rouge era of the 1970s."

So yeah while Thailand is kind of doing the 'Amazing Thailand' thing: sun and fun on the beaches, it seems Cambodia is kind of going a different direction. There was a little bit of me that wanted to kind of chuckle there. To be clear, this is important stuff and The Killing Fields especially - I've been there - it's powerful. The thing to understand is yeah, as ‘dark’ as it is, it is a tourism attraction and it is something that people really should see. I don't even know if it's a UN Heritage Site. If it's not it probably ought to be if only as a site to remind us all what can happen. I mean I look at it as akin to people who take tours of concentration camps and Holocaust museums. It's not so much that it's like tourism "oh it's fun", it's tourism as in what really happened, the way humanity can be to itself at times and we all sort of need to be reminded of that. 

So I think of the end of the day it is rather laudable of Cambodia to not only perhaps encourage tourism to those sites, but even to push that kind of Tourism because one) it does have value and again it can attract tourists, so why not at the end of the day? I think that's a pretty sound plan if you are trying to increase tourism and also provide a value-added experience if you will, for folks coming to your country.