Visitors from China predictably top Cambodia's list of tourism market with 683,436 travellers having entered the country from January 1 to April 30 this year. Vietnamese tourists are a distant runner-up with 186,863 visitors. Laos is ranked the third with 121,489 tourists. Thailand comes the fourth with 97,942 tourists followed by South Korea with 95,719 tourists.
The majority of all the tourists (1.29 million) entered the Kingdom via three international airports – Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville. 578,371 travelled overland or by sea to reach the country.
Among three most popular tourist regions in the country the capital area of Phnom Penh leads the race. During the first three months of 2019 it welcomed 1.08 million tourists, even more than Siem Reap, home to the renouned Angkor temples: 787,900 foreign tourists visited the city and the archeological park nearby. Seaside resort areas, including Preah Sihanouk, Kep, Kampot and Koh Kong received 303,285 tourists in total.
Yet Tourism Ministry is not completely satisfied with the results of the first quarter regardless an impressive growth of tourist arrivals. The ministry is calling to relevant parties to increase the quality of tourism services to attract more tourists and make them stay longer (spend more).
Cambodia Reports 10% Rise of Tourist Arrivals
News in Asia
Tourist arrivals were almost up 10 percent in Cambodia in the first quarter of 2019, the Tourism Ministry reported last week. Mostly thanks to the influx of visitors from China – they showed an astonishing 35 percent growth.