For decades, most Siem Reap itineraries began and ended at Angkor Wat. The Siem Reap 2026 Forum for the Future set out to change that. Government officials and industry leaders used the gathering to commit publicly to diversification — reframing the province as a multi-day cultural and ecological hub rather than a single-monument stop.

In practice, diversification means building secondary products across culture and nature: hands-on workshops, culinary experiences, green corridors, and regional excursions that pull visitors into the countryside and lengthen their stay. Planners increasingly describe this spread of activity as a form of risk management — a way to cushion the province against external shocks that hit any one gateway or attraction.

The strategy also aims to spread tourism income more widely, so that villages, artisans, farmers and small operators share in the visitor economy rather than watching it concentrate around the temple circuit.

The Online Guide Association sees this shift as an opening for its members. Guides who can lead a cooking class, a village visit or a countryside cycle — not just a temple tour — are exactly the kind of flexible, multi-skilled operators the diversification agenda depends on.