A campaign titled “Cambodia: Safe and Green Tourism Destination” launched last Thursday and aimed at reviving the tourism industry affected by COVID-19 is seeing its first results with several airlines increasing their frequencies and other flights increasing numerous after a two-year hiatus.
Speaking at the launch event held via video conference, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said that over the past two years, many tourism businesses have been closed and tens of thousands of employees have lost their job.
“This campaign is a strategy to attract tourists from all over the world as well as countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to Cambodia,” he said.
All fully vaccinated tourists are welcome in quarantine-free Cambodia, the minister said, advising all tourism-related businesses to effectively implement tourism safety measures and standard operating procedures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 19.
Tourism is one of the four pillars of the kingdom’s economy. The country welcomed up to 6.61 million international tourists in 2019, generating gross revenue of US$4.92 billion, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
But due to the pandemic, the sector only attracted 163,366 foreign visitors in the January-November period. period in 2021, down 87% from 1.28 million over the same period in 2020, the ministry said.
Cambodia is famous for its three World Heritage Sites, namely Angkor Archaeological Park, Preah Vihear Temple and Sambor Prei Kuk Archaeological Site. Also, it has a pristine coastline of 450 km spanning four southwestern provinces.
The Southeast Asian nation opened its doors to fully vaccinated travelers in November last year after most of its population was vaccinated against COVID-19.
Last weekend alone, up to 210,000 tourists crisscrossed the country’s various tourist sites, with Sihanoukville itself attracting more than 57,000 tourists over the two days.
The kingdom has so far administered at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 14.35 million people, or 89.7% of its 16 million people, of which 13.75 million people, or 87%, are fully vaccinated with two mandatory injections.
