Cambodia is hoping to almost double its international visitor arrivals to 4 million in 2023, with the easing of China’s zero-COVID strategy seen as a major opportunity for the Southeast Asian nation.
Kong Sopheareak, director of the Tourism Statistics Department at the Ministry of Tourism, told Chinese state media outlet Xinhua that he expects the mainland to again become Cambodia’s top source tourist market this year after just 106,875 Chinese tourists visited in 2022.
“We hope that more Chinese tourists, business people and investors will come to Cambodia, given the close relationship between our two countries and peoples,” he said.
“The presence of Chinese tourists is vital to help boost our tourism and economy.”
Sopheareak’s comments come after the Ministry of Tourism issued a report showing that Cambodia welcomed 2.28 million visitors in 2022 – up more than 1,000% year-on-year but just a third of the 6.61 million visitor arrivals in 2019.
It is expected that tourist numbers will return to pre-COVID levels only in 2026 or 2027.
The 2022 figures also show 10,938 flight movements, up from 2,139 flights in 2021.
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