Cambodia and Malaysia have agreed to set up a specialised team for tourism cooperation, the Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia said.
The agreement came during a Wednesday meeting between Minister of Tourism Thong Khon and Eldeen Husaini Mohd Hashim, the new Malaysian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia.
The team will focus on tourism sector cooperation – including tourism information exchange, promotion and human resources development.
Eldeen Husaini also asked for the Kingdom’s cooperation to promote Malaysia’s health tourism sector, urging Cambodia to increase tourism training for Malay language tour guides to meet market demand and halal food service.
The two countries are set to sign a memorandum of understanding on the tourism sector during Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s visit to the Kingdom in September or October.
Ministry of Tourism spokesman Top Sopheak said on Thursday that Malaysia is a high-growth economy with many travelling to the Kingdom for pleasure.
“We hope that we will be able to manage their demands. The Ministry of Tourism is currently also researching into training Malay language tour guides,” he said.
“Cambodia not only has the opportunity to directly absorb tourists from Malaysia but also guests from other countries through Malaysia,” Sopheak said, referring to the fact that there are currently 49 direct flights weekly between the two countries.
Data from the Ministry of Tourism shows that last year, Cambodia received over 200,000 Malaysian tourists – up 12.2 per cent from 2017. For the first four months of this year, Cambodia welcomed over 65,000 Malaysian tourists.