TikTok tourists slammed after 'real-life Temple Run' trend sees users crash sacred Cambodian site to mimic video game

28 August 2024, 10:21 | Updated: 28 August 2024, 10:23

Tourists in Cambodia have been branded 'insensitive' after attempting to recreate scenes from best-selling video game 'Temple Run' at a sacred temple as part of the latest TikTok trend.

Holidaymakers visiting Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia have been recording themselves sprinting through the UNESCO World Heritage site in a bid to recreate scenes from the best-selling Temple Run' video game.

Labelling the trend 'Temple Run in real life', videos uploaded to TikTok and Facebook have seen users tagging the 'Cambodian Temple Run Challenge' - and amassing millions of views.

However, it's left campaigners labelling the move 'culturally insensitive' as a stream of stampeding tourists continue to rush through the 12th Century Hindu-Buddhist temple.

It comes just months after an unidentified free runner destroyed part of a wall in the ancient city of Matera - another World Heritage site.

Temple Run, a multi-million copy selling video game, was first launched by Imagini Studios in 2011.

Recent years have seen the sequel, Temple Run 2, saw it surpass the 50million download mark within the first two weeks of release in January 2013.

Now, the World Heritage site - and it's nearly 900-year-old sculptures - risk irreparable damage as a result of tourists attempting to recreate the trend.

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Videos began emerging on platforms showing tourists running through the temple's narrow alleyways as far back as five years ago, with the trend now resurfacing - and causing a major backlash in the country.

Some footage has now amassed millions of views across social media, with many users also praising the exposure social media users bring to the region.

"Thank you for visiting our country" one user wrote, while another said: "Welcome to our country 🇰🇭 🙏"

However, Simon Warrack, a conservationist who has worked for three decades to preserve the sacred sites, has criticised the trend.

Speaking out on the videos, he told the South China Morning Post: “You wouldn’t run through St Peters in Rome or any Western church, so why is it OK to do it in Cambodia?”

Adding: “It’s not just potential damage to the stones by people bumping into them and falling or knocking things over – which is real – but it’s also damage to the spiritual and cultural value of the temples.”

It comes as Hans Leisen, who led a German conservation project at the Angkor Wat temple, labelled the online trend 'nonsense'.

It's not the first country to face a slew of TikTok tourists attempting to capture viral videos, with recent months seeing countries including Spain attempting to deter tourists.