Two Days Bring 2 Million Visitors
Top-five visited cities and provinces were Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Siem Reap, Kampot, and Battambang provinces. Photo: Isa Rohany
- By Teng Yalirozy
- January 2, 2023 5:15 PM
PHNOM PENH – More than two million tourists traveled across Cambodia during the 2023 New Year weekend.
The country hopes the number will rise after China opens its borders later this month.
The total was made up of 2,006,117 domestic and 16,803 international tourists, up 76.65 percent at the 2022 New Year, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
Top-five visited cities and provinces were Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Siem Reap, Kampot, and Battambang provinces. Phnom Penh had 455,832 tourists, of which 452,363 were domestic. Sihanoukville welcomed 338,552 tourists, of whom 335,630 were domestic.
Siem Reap, Kampot, and Battambang provinces saw 337,769, 330,659 and 158,110 tourists respectively.
“Tourist destinations across the country were attracting a large number of tourists, the tourism ministry said. “Hotel rooms, guesthouses, resorts and bungalows were almost fully booked.”
Chhay Sivlin, president of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents (CATA), said about 16,000 international tourists was not a big number, blaming the decline on the lingering COVID-19 outbreak and border restriction.
However, she was sure that in 2023, more international tourists would arrive, particularly from the giant market China.
“Cambodia is the destination that Chinese tourists often choose. We, thus, expect that the number of international tourists will increase also due to Chinese tourists,” Sivlin said.
The flow of tourists from other countries was expected to resume as airlines restored services while the border restriction in most country had been eased.
“Prime Minister Hun Sen stated that Cambodia is an attractive tourist destination for the Chinese as he warmly expressed welcome for the Chinese tourists,” Sivlin said.
China will open its border after almost three years isolation to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
“I invite the Chinese tourists to visit Cambodia,” the PM said on Jan. 2 during a groundbreaking ceremony for a bridge across the Mekong river in Kratie under a concession from the Chinese Government.
Hun Sen also expected that the Cambodian economy will grow through the recovery of the tourism sector, hoping that Cambodia will get at least two million Chinese tourists between 2025 and 2027.
Chhay Sivlin of CATA said other countries also want the Chinese tourists.
In the first 11 months of 2022, Cambodia welcomed about 2.2 million tourists, of whom 90,648 were from China, the ministry says. This figure met a ministry forecast of 1.5 million to 2 million international visitors for the year.
The ministry has set out major policies, plans and strategies for the management and development of tourism with efficiency, quality and sustainability to attract about 7.5 million international tourists and 16 million domestic tourists by 2028."
