PHNOM PENH, Apr 18 (NNN-AKP) – Cambodia’s three-day traditional New Year, or Songkran festival, came to an end with 4.59 million people travelling to various tourist attractions, Tourism Minister, Thong Khon, said yesterday.
Khon said that, of the total, there were 28,849 foreign tourists.
“All tourist destinations had been opened and attracted crowds of tourists,” he said. “The number of tourists during the three-day New Year holiday this year is almost comparable to the pre-COVID-19 new year celebration in 2019, when 4.72 million tourists were recorded.”
Security, safety and public order had been ensured during the holiday, he said, adding, the cultural province of Siem Reap, the capital, Phnom Penh, and the coastal provinces of Preah Sihanouk, Kampot, and Kep were among the kingdom’s most popular tourist destinations.
“Confidence in the effectiveness of vaccines has allowed our people to travel to all tourist attractions across the country, during the New Year holiday,” Khon said.
The nation celebrated the Songkran festival from Thursday to Saturday, after two years of cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cambodian Prime Minister, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, said on Saturday that, Songkran festivities were organised at villages, pagodas, schools, public venues and tourist attractions.
“Thanks to the high rate of vaccinations and comprehensive peace that we have achieved over the past 24 years, our people can now travel everywhere,” he said in a speech during the inauguration ceremony of a large couple statue in the southwestern Preah Sihanouk province.
Cambodia fully resumed its socio-economic activities and reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travellers, without quarantine since last Nov, after most of its population have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The kingdom has so far administered one dose of COVID-19 vaccines to 14.85 million people, or 92.8 percent of its 16 million population, the Health Ministry said, adding that, of them, 14.1 million, or 88.1 percent, have been fully vaccinated with two required shots.
Cambodia reported only 16 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, all were confirmed to be the Omicron variant, with no new fatalities, the Health Ministry said, adding that from January 2020 to date, the country had registered a total of 136,060 cases with 132,769 recoveries and 3,055 deaths.
