With the Covid-19 pandemic’s threat potency on the wane and easing of travel curbs across the world, Cambodia and other ASEAN member states have stepped up efforts to attract more inbound travellers, particularly visitors originating from China.
Cambodian airports are prepared for the rise in new arrivals. “Our three international airports are well-resourced to accommodate more visitors. With our airline and civil aviation partners, our teams constantly monitor the evolution in all source markets to adjust our capacity to the influx of passengers,” Norinda Khek, Communication & PR Director of Cambodia Airports, told Khmer Times, on the preparedness to handle the influx of tourists.
To cope with the coming passenger increase “we have re-injected capacity,” he said.
On the Chinese tourists, Khek said, “In particular, we look forward to rebuilding the network between China and Cambodia.”
At present, 27 airlines, including six airlines from China, are operating flights to and from Cambodia and the number of air carriers catering to the Cambodian market is likely to go up. “We expect that there will be more airlines and flights from China in the near future,” Sin Chansereyvutha, Undersecretary of State and Spokesman at the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, has been quoted as saying by Xinhua.
The Cambodian international airports serve around 24 destinations and 11 countries. “Although the number of destinations has still to catch up with its pre-pandemic level, we have seen more flights resumption and frequencies, especially at the Phnom Penh International Airport,” said the Cambodia Airports official.
In 2022, about 2.38 million passengers disembarked from around 29,000 flights in the Kingdom of Cambodia and the number is expected to increase as the scare of Covid-19 seems to be diminishing fast.
Not only most countries have removed travel restrictions, but the government of Japan is also reportedly mulling over downgrading Covid-19 to the same category as seasonal influenza.
“For 2023, we predict that the number of air passengers will be doubled thanks to China’s reopening,” the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation official said.
According to the Ministry of Tourism estimate, the country is hoping to receive 4 million plus visitors from across the world and to see around 15 million domestic tourists this year, which is likely to generate $4 billion in revenue.
According to Travel & Tourism Economic Impact report, an annual publication by the London-based World Travel & Tourism Council, the travel industry in Asia-Pacific may be the only one in the world to recover this year and will contribute over 71 percent to the economy of the region. The next year (2024) will see further strengthening of the industry, the report added.
Many Chinese prefer to travel in groups and they make a considerable contribution to the Cambodian tourism industry, which is one of the central pillars of the Kingdom’s economy.
With the further easing of travel curbs, Chinese group tours will restart as a pilot project to 20 countries, including Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Laos (all ASEAN member states), from February 6. The travel companies will also be allowed to provide airline and hotel packages beginning at the same time, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China.
Other countries made part of the pilot project are: Argentina, Cuba, the South Pacific island nation of Fiji, two European countries – Hungary and Switzerland, the Maldives and Sri Lanka (both Asian destinations), New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Kenya, as reported by the state-owned China Daily.
This will certainly generate a lot of traffic at airports. “Yes, all of our airports and the crews are definitely ready and prepared to receive the incoming flow of Chinese tourists as it will not be the first time for them to experience an influx of international tourists,” Chhay Sivlin, President of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents (CATA) told Khmer Times.
Such is the lure of the Chinese tourist yuan, Southeast Asian countries have gone lenient in welcoming policies this year. In 2019, ASEAN received around 32 million Chinese visitors but the number dropped to 4 million in 2020.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
