A tourist walks along the seaside in Sihanoukville. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Increased flight connections to Sihanoukville helped boost tourism figures in the seaside province during the first five months of the year, tourism officials said yesterday.

The province saw a 50 per cent year-on-year climb in foreign tourists compared with last year, ministry data showed.

About 22 per cent more domestic tourists visited Sihanoukville during the period.

Regular flights between Sihanoukville and Siem Reap, which launched in late 2011, have helped pull tourists from Cambodia’s No 1 tourist destination to its little-known coast, Hun Chhoeun, director of Preah Sihnoulk province’s international airport, said yesterday.

Angkor Air is the only operator to land at the airport, but other airlines are looking into servicing the province, Hun Chhoeun claimed.

Angkor Air has three flights to Sihanoukville per week.

Seng Kha, director of Preah Sihanouk provincial tourism department, said the Kingdom’s induction into The World’s Most Beautiful Bay Club last year has attracted more European tourists.

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