Cambodia eyes lucrative European, Chinese tourist trade

Apr 21, 2008

Phnom Penh - Cambodia will seek to increase direct flights between China and European Union (EU) nations to boost its booming tourism industry, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said Monday.

His comments came as Cambodia announced a 17 percent increase in tourist arrivals at about about 400,000 during the first two months of 2008. Tourism is a mainstay of the economy.

'Cambodia needs more flights from the big cities in southern China and they need to be daily,' he said by telephone. 'The EU is also a market that is under tapped due to a lack of direct flights.'

'By 2020 an estimated 100 million Chinese are expected to travel the world. If we can snare just 5 percent, we've got 5 million Chinese tourists,' Thong Khon said.

Siem Reap International Airport, 300 kilometres north of the capital and the gateway to the Angkor Wat temple complex, currently accommodates 37 international flights per day, he said.

But the private French-Malaysian concession company Société Concessionnaire de l'Aéroport managing the airport has announced expansion plans, and the government is keen to capitalize.

Phnom Penh International Airport handles about 30 international flights a day, and the Sihanoukville airport, 240 kilometres from the capital which services the south-western beach resorts is also being set for major expansion.

'The EU is also a place with great tourism potential. At present we have direct charter flights from Finland and Italy, but we would like to see that grow as 60 per cent of our tourists arrive by air,' he said.

'To attract more tourists, we have to put Cambodia on the map.'

In Communist China Hun Sen trusts

Cambodia has confidence in China, says prime minister

Nov 7, 2007
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodia sees China's booming economy as a benefit, not a threat, and the kingdom is anticipating 1 million Chinese tourists a year as Chinese became richer, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday.

'Some people say China's economic growth is a threat to the world economy but some say it is good for the region and the world,' Hun Sen told a conference on investment and trade in the capital.

'I believe when China becomes rich it is good for Cambodia. When we receive Chinese tourists it is even better than Chinese investment. We want 1 million Chinese tourists per year.'

Hun Sen said he was inclined to trust in China's continued economic growth, and questioned the effect the burgeoning current account deficit of the US would have on exports for Cambodia and other regional economies in the not-so distant future.

'This could be a danger for the world economy. The US is like the locomotive engine of the train. When the engine stops, we all slow down,' he said.

According to the Ministry of Tourism third quarter statistics for 2007, mainland Chinese tourist arrivals to Cambodia ranked a distant sixth of all nationalities, but the 82,915 Chinese tourists still represented an increase of more than 47 per cent from last year.

China has rapidly become Cambodia's most important source of foreign direct investment, and is also a major donor.