Preah Sihanouk Wins the “Best Countdown City” Title for 2024
Preah Sihanouk city has been ranked as the "Best Countdown City of the Year” 2023-2024, amongst the 25 provincial capitals. Photo: Ministry of Tourism Facebook
- By Meng Seavmey
- January 6, 2024 3:00 PM
PHNOM PENH — Preah Sihanouk city has been ranked as the "Best Countdown City of the Year” 2023-2024, amongst the 25 provincial capitals.
Battambang and Siem Reap cities came in as second and third best cities respectively, according to the National Committee for Clean City Assessment.
The result was announced by the Ministry of Tourism on Jan. 5 on its Facebook page. The vote for the competition took place Dec. 31 through Jan. 1 at a website that was inviting the public to cast their votes.
According to the committee, the criteria were based on decorations, design, hygiene, environment, safety, security, order, satisfaction, and pleasure of tourists. In 2023, Battambang province was ranked first, Preah Sihanouk second and Siem Reap third in the competition.
The awards ceremony will be held soon, the ministry said on its Facebook page.
During the countdown, more than 3.28 million tourists went out from Dec. 30, 2023, to Jan. 1, 2024. Among them, 58,722 persons were foreign visitors. Phnom Penh was the most-visited destination, welcoming around 610,356 visitors including 25,172 foreigners. And yet, the capital did not make it in the top three best countdown cities.
Preah Sihanouk city welcomed 472,697 visitors, 8,597 foreigners, and was the second most-visited city, followed by Kampot with 427,495 visitors.
Siem Reap city, on the other hand, was the fourth on the list, welcoming around 377,219 visitors including 12,219 foreigners, while Battambang had 346,333 visitors, of whom 810 were foreigners.
According to the latest available data from the Ministry of Tourism, a total of 4.92 million foreign tourists visited Cambodia in the first 11 months of 2023.
