[INNEWS comprehensive report] Recently, Chhay Sivlin, chairman of the Association of Cambodian Travel Agents, revealed that many international tourists have already booked travel to Cambodia in October.
According to data from the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism, from January to July this year, Cambodia has received 3 million international tourists and is expected to receive 5 million international tourists throughout the year. Although this number has increased, growth in the number of tourists in some tourist destinations such as Siem Reap province is still limited.
In addition, since it is the rainy season, many tourists do not like to travel. Despite this, many international tourists still choose to visit Cambodia during the last month of the rainy season. Chua Siew Ling pointed out that the association has been cooperating extensively with overseas partners to promote through tourism exhibitions in ASEAN countries.
To promote tourism, the government should establish a mechanism to encourage the private sector as the tourism industry failed to recover immediately after the COVID-19 crisis. In addition, the government should also encourage the continuity of the mechanism so that the tourism industry can compete with neighboring countries and attract more tourists.
In late August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said that the government would hold a forum in November to meet with the private sector, especially the tourism sector, to listen to suggestions and solve problems. He emphasized that tourism is a top priority and competition is fierce. The new Minister of Tourism Sok Soken launched a strategic initiative to develop Cambodia’s tourism industry with high quality, vitality, competitiveness, sustainability and environment based on the basic principle of “tourism connects land and nature”, moving towards a new era. s future.
The strategy’s goal is to make Cambodia a leading global tourism destination of diversity, opportunity and warmth, contributing to Cambodia’s prestige and resilience.
It is worth mentioning that the vision of the Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia is to receive about 6.4 million international tourists in 2025 and about 7 million international tourists in 2026.
