The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has pinned high hopes on tourism recovery, stressing that the number of foreign arrivals to the Kingdom will be at the same level before the COVID-19 crisis.
The influx of international visitors to Cambodia will be able to return to the pre-COVID-19 situation, H.E. Sok Soken, Minister of Tourism said, adding that the RGC, the private sector and stakeholders as well as journalists have worked together to promote the country’s tourism potential and new tourism products.
“The influx of foreign tourists that will help drive growth to Cambodia is from the Chinese and Indian markets, in addition to those from Europe, the U.S. and ASEAN countries,” H.E Sok Soken told a press conference organised by the Club of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ) to promote Siem Reap province’s tourism potential last weekend.
The RGC has designated 2024 as the Cambodia-China People-to-People Exchange Year and the Cambodia-India Tourism Year.
According to the minister, the national flag carrier – Cambodia Angkor Air – will start direct flights between Cambodia and India in June this year.
“To attract more Indian tourists to Cambodia, the direct flights from Cambodia to New Delhi will commence on June 16,” he said.
Cambodia attracted some 5.43 million international tourists in 2023, a sharp increase of 139 percent from 2.27 million in 2022, official figures showed.
Tourism is one of the four pillars supporting Cambodia’s economy, in addition to garment, footwear, and travel goods export, agriculture, and construction and real estate.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, the number of international visitors to Cambodia is predicted to reach 7 million by 2025, surpassing the pre-COVID-19 pandemic of 6.6 million in 2019.
Cambodia is well known for its world cultural heritage sites, namely the Angkor Archaeological Park in Siem Reap province, the Preah Vihear Temple and Koh Ker Temple in Preah Vihear province, and the Sambor Prei Kuk Archaeological Site in Kampong Thom province.
Besides, the Kingdom has a 450-kilometre-long pristine coastline stretching across four southwestern provinces of Preah Sihanouk, Kampot, Kep and Koh Kong.
