Asia's Tourists Hit the Beaches, Warming Region's Economy

MARCH 15, 2010
By ALEX FRANGOS
The Wall Street Journal

SIEM REAP, Cambodia—Resurgent tourism within Asia is helping to drive economic recoveries, and demonstrating the growing power of regional consumers.

Just ask Kwong Meng Geip, a purveyor of a medicinal mushroom spirit a few miles from the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. South Koreans who arrive on tour buses are the biggest buyers of the unique brew he makes in clay barrels. And the Koreans are flowing back after a slow 2009.

"My business is better than before," says Mr. Kwong, as he presides over displays of the yellow-tinged liquor at the Angkor Rice Wine Workshop, a distillery and souvenir shop he owns. "It releases the hurt," he says of the liquor.

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