River Festival Attracts 400,000 Tourists in Two Days
This year’s festival is running from March 8 to 10 under the theme, “Our River for Now and Next.” Photo: Heak Chhork
- By Teng Yalirozy
- March 9, 2023 12:10 PM
PHNOM PENH – The 7th River Festival in Kampong Thom province has attracted about 400,000 tourists in two days after being paused for two years due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
This is a big increase on the 6th festival in 2020 when about 300,000 tourists showed up in total.
This year’s festival is running from March 8 to 10 under the theme, “Our River for Now and Next.” Tourists, however, started visiting on March 7.
About 18,500 and about 385,000 people traveled to the festival on March 7 and March 8 respectively, according to the provincial tourism department.
Tourism Minister Thong Khon expected at least a million tourists during the festival.
The event includes 300 booths with food and drinks, and agro-tourism exhibitions of small and medium enterprises, Khmer products, agricultural products and community products.
There are also performances of traditional and contemporary mixed arts of national and sub-national artists and sports activities to promote the 32nd SEA Games and the 12th ASEAN Para Games 2023.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said the River Festival had become a significant event promoting the tourism potential in the river-bordered provinces and helping the government’s policy for sustainable and responsible development in the provinces near the river.
“This event is also an opportunity to strengthen service and the creation of tourism products with creativity, especially river cruise and community tourism,” he said.
He highlighted the importance of the river, which has been embedded in Cambodian culture since the ancient period, linking to the rich history of civilization from one generation to another.
More than 90 percent of people rely directly on seasonally flooded forests for fresh water, food, fuel wood and other necessities.
He said Kampong Thom province is the central part of Cambodia and has a long border with the Tonle Sap river and the UNESCO world heritage Sambor Prei Kuk temple, making this year’s event more special.
The festival is celebrated annually in the provinces bordering the river. The 2020 festival was celebrated in Battambang province.
