Cambodia's Preah Vihear Temple Draws Over 90,000 Visitors In First 11 Months

PHNOM PENH, Dec 14 (Bernama) -- Cambodia's Preah Vihear Hindu temple received more than 90,000 visitors in the first 11 months of the year, an 87 percent increase over the same period last year.

Xinhua news agency reports the world heritage site attracted some 86,950 local visitors and 6,390 foreigners from January to November, up 84 percent and 147 percent respectively compared with last year.

Kong Vibol, chief of Preah Vihear provincial tourism department, said the sharp rise was due to ease of road transport and the end of military confrontation between Cambodian and Thai troops over disputed border near the temple.

"With good security at the area we expect the temple will become one of the country's largest tourism destinations in the coming years," he said.

The temple is located on the top of a 525-metre cliff in the Dangrek Mountains about 500 kilometres northwest of Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.

It was inscribed in the World Heritage list on July 7, 2008.

The temple was a flashpoint of deadly armed clashes between Cambodian and Thai troops in February and April last year as Thailand had claimed ownership of a 4.6-square km scrub next to the temple.

However, military tensions have eased since former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's Pheu Thai Party won a landslide victory in the general elections in July last year.