PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times): Cambodia attracted 1.58 million international tourists in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, up 22.5 per cent from 1.29 million during the same period in 2023, said a Ministry of Tourism report released to the media.

Thailand was the biggest tourism market for the Kingdom during the period with 449,781 visits from the neighbouring country, though it constituted a year-on-year decrease of 1.1 per cent, the report said.

Some 299,391 Vietnamese and 189,961 Chinese also travelled to Cambodia during the three-month period, up 18.9 percent and 12 per cent respectively, the report added.

About 40 per cent of foreign tourist arrivals were via airports, a year-on-year increase of 33 per cent and the rest were via border gates and waterways, read the report.

The growth of foreign tourist arrivals in the first quarter of this year reflected that the tourism sector in Cambodia is recovering and would reach the pre-pandemic level in the near future, said Top Sopheak, Secretary of State and Spokesman of the Ministry of Tourism.

“We hope that Cambodia will receive more international tourists and surpass the pre-Covid-19 pandemic level in the next couple of years,” Sopheak told Khmer Times.

Peace, stability and connectivity are the main factors that contributed to the increased visits of foreign tourists, he added.

Tourism is one of the four pillars supporting Cambodia’s economy.

The Kingdom has four world heritage sites, namely the Angkor Archaeological Park, the Temple Zone of Sambor Prei Kuk in central Kampong Thom province, and the Temple of Preah Vihear and the Koh Ker archaeological site in northwest Preah Vihear province.

Besides, it has a pristine coastline stretching about 450 km in four southwest provinces such as Sihanoukville, Kampot, Kep and Koh Kong.

The Cambodian Government launched earlier in April the ‘Visit Siem Reap 2024’ Campaign to attract more visitors to Cambodia’s tourist hotspot, which is having a hard time recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Hun Manet has called all tourism officials, local authorities and tour agents to work hand in hand to initiate more tourism activities in Siem Reap province.

The ministry’s report showed that Cambodia’s outbound tourism also went up by 1.7 percent to 415,909 during the January-March period of this year.- Khmer Times