Kingdom attracts 5.3 million foreign tourists in ten months
Kingdom attracts 5.3 million foreign tourists in ten months
Cambodia attracted 5.37 million international tourists during the first ten months of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 22 percent, according to a report released by the Ministry of Tourism.
Thailand emerged as the top source market for foreign tourist arrivals in Cambodia from January to October with 1.72 million visitors, a year-on-year decrease of 14.9 percent, the report said.
Some 1.08 million Vietnamese and 691,736 Chinese tourists travelled during the period, up 31.6 percent and 52.5 percent respectively, it added.
As many as 1.9 million foreign visitors, or about 35.5 percent of the total foreign tourist arrivals, travelled to Cambodia by air, a year-on-year increase of 27 percent.
The remaining tourists arrived via land border gates and waterways, the report pointed out.
The increased figures reflected the result of efforts made by the ministry and relevant parties in promoting the tourism sector, said Top Sopheak, Secretary of State and Spokesman of the Ministry of Tourism.
Speaking to Khmer Times, Sopheak said, “This growth of foreign tourist arrivals reflected that the tourism sector in Cambodia is recovering upward.”
The spokesman also attributed the growth to the more connected flights, providing convenience to tourists visiting the Kingdom.
The ministry previously projected a target of seven million foreign tourist arrivals by 2025, exceeding the 6.6 million recorded in 2019.
Cambodia is well-known for its world cultural heritage sites, such as the Angkor Archaeological Park in Siem Reap province, the Preah Vihear Temple and Koh Ker Temple in Preah Vihear province, and the Sambor Prei Kuk Archaeological Site in Kampong Thom province.
Besides, the Kingdom has a 450-kilometre-long pristine coastline stretching across four southwestern provinces of Preah Sihanouk, Kampot, Kep and Koh Kong.
At the same time, the ministry’s report showed that Cambodia’s outbound tourism also went up by 2.6 percent to 1.57 million during the mentioned period.
Tourism contributes about 13 percent of Cambodia’s gross domestic product (GDP). In 2019, the pre-pandemic period, Cambodia welcomed its highest number of international tourists at 6.61 million.
Last year, the Kingdom received 5.45 million foreign visitors, earning a gross revenue of $3.08 billion, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
