Foreign tourist arrival numbers for Cambodia climbed nearly 24 per cent in the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period last year.

The Ministry of Tourism’s statistics obtained yesterday showed that international tourist arrivals increased from 2,317,980 from the first 10 months of last year to 2,858,500, a 23.7 per cent increase.

According to the figures, most of the international tourists, 75.4 per cent, were from the Asia-Pacific region, which accounted for 2,195,272 visitors, an increase of 28 per cent.

From that, about 1.2 million tourists were from ASEAN member states,  an increase of 36.2 per cent.

Arrivals from the European Union increased 11.3 per cent with a total of 467,452 visitors entering the Kingdom.

Sinan Thourn, chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), said the figures showed an increase to Cambodia due to more direct flights and government policies that ensure ease of access for tourists.

He said that the slow increase of the tourists from Europe was a result of the ongoing debt crisis, which led to less consumer spending, and the limited connections between Europe and Cambodia.

However, he added that despite the cessation of Air France flights from Paris to Phnom Penh, the numbers would not decrease because Condor Air in Germany would serve as a substitute. 

“Regardless of whether Air France flies or not, there is no impact because travellers buy combined packages to the regions,” he said, adding that “it will not decrease, but slowly increase.”

Officials at the Ministry of Tourism forecast that by the end of this year, Cambodia would receive between 3.3 million and 3.4 million international tourists.

The forecast is higher than earlier in the year, which projected 3.1 million tourists.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rann Reuy at [email protected]