PHNOM PENH, Jan 18 (NNN-AKP) – Cambodia is projected to receive four million international tourists this year, after China’s optimisation of its COVID-19 strategy early this month, a tourism official said, yesterday.
Kong Sopheareak, director of Tourism Statistics Department, at the Ministry of Tourism, said, China is the most important outbound tourism market for the world, and China’s optimisation of its COVID-19 strategy is a boon, not only for Cambodia, but also for global tourism.
“We hope that more Chinese tourists, business people and investors will come to Cambodia, given close relationship between our two countries and peoples,” he said.
“The presence of Chinese tourists is vital to help boost our tourism and economy,” he added.
According to Sopheareak, the nation welcomed 2.28 million international tourists in 2022. Of them, 106,875 were Chinese tourists.
Cambodia’s Tourism Minister, Thong Khon, said last week that, Cambodia is ready to welcome the return of Chinese people, tourists, business people and investors.
“China’s resumption of outbound tourism is very beneficial not only to Cambodia, but also to the whole world,” he said. “We hope that Cambodia will attract at least one million Chinese tourists this year.”
Tourism is one of the four major pillars supporting Cambodia’s economy. In the pre-pandemic era, the kingdom registered 6.6 million international tourists in 2019, generating 4.92 billion U.S. dollars in revenue, that contributed 12.1 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The kingdom is famous for its three world heritage sites, namely the Angkor Archaeological Park, the Preah Vihear Temple, and the Sambor Prei Kuk Archaeological Site. Besides, it has a 450-km pristine coastline, stretching across four south-western provinces.– NNN-AKP
