Revenue from foreign tourists buying passes to see temples in Siem Reap’s Angkor Wat complex amounted to about $51 million last year, according to a Post calculation of data that was released Friday in a letter by the Apsara Authority, which manages the site.
“If we look at the data and calculate it based on reliable figures … you can see the revenue is about $51 million,” confirmed Bun Narith, director-general of the Apsara Authority.
Narith released information about the site in response to comments from Cambodia National Rescue Party deputy president Kem Sokha, who claimed in a recent campaign appearance that revenues reached $200 million. The opposition has consistently claimed the figures for the park are understated.
In the letter, the exact number of tickets sold in 2012 was about 1.8 million. And of those, about one million visitors (59.2 per cent) bought single day passes for $20. About 700,000 visitors, or 39.8 per cent, bought three-day passes for $40, and about 18,000 visitors bought $60 weekly passes.
The total revenue from the three kinds of passes is roughly $51 million.
Son Chhay, a CNRP candidate, countered that the number of tourists listed as buying single-day passes is off.
“I have put many efforts on the real observation and I found that the majority of visitors buy three-day passes for their tour to Angkor Park,” Chhay said, adding that an independent study should be commissioned.
