Tourism specialists, including Cambodia Tourism Association (CATA) President Mr Eng Kunthea – President of Siem Reap Chapter and the MD of Euro Khmer Voyages on behalf of Lct. Chhay Sivlin, National President of CATA, have banded together to promote Siem Reap, which has not yet returned to its pre-COVID international visitor numbers.

The group CATA board of directors includes Ms Ly Akim from Vespa Angkor Wat Tours, Mr Mao Savath – from Global DMC, Mr Visal Roeun – from SAK Adventure and Mr Sareth Duch from Angkor Destination Travel.  The meeting, hosted at Palate Restaurant and the Lynnaya Urban River resort, attracted 11 delegates representing many local tourism and hospitality operators.

Mr Kunthea said the government’s announcement last month of the Visit Siem Reap Year 2024 campaign and a host of initiatives to promote tourism provided a platform for group delegates to outline their vision for the future of Siem Reap as an international tourism hub and one of the primary gateway to other Cambodia tourism destinations.

President Eng Kunthea at a media briefing.

“National visitation figures are improving,” he said.  “According to the tourism ministry, from January to September 2023, Cambodia attracted 3,926,882 foreign travellers compared to 1,265,772 in the previous period last year.

Locally, visitor numbers are trending upwards. In the first five months of 2022, Siem Reap received just over one million domestic visits, up from roughly 120,000 in 2021.

About 60,000 international visitors arrived in the first half of 2022, up 1,025 percent in the corresponding period, with 387 flights to Siem Reap recorded.

Mr Kunthea said the new International Airport, a strong marketing and media awareness campaign, and the government’s recent announcement introducing special measures to promote tourism in Siem Reap were greatly welcomed.

“But there is still a lot to do,” said Mr Kunthea. “Our aim is to take Siem Reap to the top of travellers’ destination lists and revitalise the local tourism industry,  hit hard by prolonged COVID-19 restrictions.”

He said initiatives raised at the meeting underlined the strength of the group’s commitment.

International airlines are being approached to include Siem Reap in their destinations.  SAI has 38 berths and can cater for seven million passengers a year; this will rise to 12 million passengers annually by 2040. It can handle 10,000 tonnes of air cargo per year from 2023 and 26,000 tonnes a year from 2040, as well as 65,800 flights per year from 2023 and up to 112,700 flights annually from 2040.

The pandemic has changed the face of tourism in Siem Reap, but because of this united and motivated group in the tourism sector and significant improvement in city infrastructure, including the intelligent Reap Siem city project implemented by JICA for 2020 – 2025. These changes have contributed to an enhanced visitor experience and have bolstered the city as a premier tourism destination and will also see a substantial return in visitation. The pandemic downtime has provided an opportunity for a sustainable recovery of Siem Reap tourism.

Written by: John Savage in Siem Reap

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