CAMBODIAN outbound tourist departures rose 29 per cent year-on-year through July, with the bulk of the travellers going to Vietnam and Thailand, according to Ministry of Tourism statistics.

Nearly 358,000 Cambodian tourists left the Kingdom in the first seven months of 2011, up from about 276,600 at the same time last year, according to the statistics.

Most outbound Cambodian tourists went to Vietnam, Ho Vandy, co-chairman of the government’s Private Sector Forum Tourism Working Group, said yesterday.

Cheap travel and a visa exemption policy had helped this trend, he said.

“Most Cambodian tourists go to Vietnam because nowadays Cambodian people like travelling by land to work and visit Vietnam. They spend only few hours and a little money on their travel,” Ho Vandy said.

Since Yingluck Shinawatra became prime minister in Thailand after that country’s elections in July, between 3,000 and 5,000 Cambodians entered Thailand every day for tourism and business, he said.

An easing of border regulations on cars and buses had increased the popularity of travelling to Vietnam by land, Khuy Kry, chief of the immigration checkpoint at Bavet, said yesterday.

About 400 Cambodians travelled to Vietnam every day, 200 of them for better health-care facilities, Khuy Kry said. The rest went for travel and for business, he said.