VietJet to Launch new Hanoi – Siem Reap Route
Vietnamese airline company VietJet announced on Dec. 12 that it will launch a new route between Vietnam's capital city Hanoi and Cambodia’s tourist hub Siem Reap. Photo: Prime Minister Hun Manet / Telegram
- By Rin Ousa
- December 13, 2023 11:00 AM
PHNOM PENH – Vietnamese airline company VietJet announced on Dec. 12 that it will launch a new route between Vietnam's capital city Hanoi and Cambodia’s tourist hub Siem Reap.
The route will be opened to passengers from Dec. 15 onwards, with a frequency of seven round-trip flights per week.
The announcement was made at the Cambodia-Vietnam Trade and Investment Promotion Forum, which was presided over by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Cambodian ruler Hun Manet.
Cambodia’s Prime Minister was paying a two-day visit to Vietnam and met several figures of the Vietnamese politburo as well as several CEOs of major Vietnamese corporations.
Following the announcement, Nguyen Thanh Hung, founder of Sovico Group and president of VietJet, paid a courtesy call to PM Hun Manet.
The Vietnamese entrepreneur expressed his optimism about the new commercial route and hoped Cambodia would be more prosperous under the new leadership.
In response, Hun Manet reaffirmed his position in providing support for VietJet’s business operation in Cambodia and expressed his wish to see more direct flights connecting the two countries, mentioning the possibility of opening a route from Danang to Phnom Penh.
The new route to Siem Reap will attract more Vietnamese tourists to Cambodia, and sustain the local tourism industry which has been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vietnam has long been a major source of international tourists to Cambodia, with over 900,000 visitors in 2019, second only to China.
While the number of Vietnamese tourists understandably decreased during the pandemic, it is back to its historical levels in 2023, with over 800,000 visitors in the first ten months of the year.
President of the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents (CATA), Chhay Sivlin, welcomes the opening of a new direct route between two of the region tourist hotspots.
“As Hanoi is one of the [major] destinations for international tourists, direct flights from Hanoi to Siem Reap will not only attract tourists from Vietnam but also attract international tourists who visit Hanoi,” Sivlin said.
“More tourists to Cambodia will increase the number of employment and job opportunities for local people,” she added.
Vietnam has become the first ASEAN member country to be officially visited since Hun Manet took office in August.
During his two-day visit, which ended on Dec. 12, many topics ranging from politics, trade, investment, tourism, health education, connectivity and national security, were discussed.
