New Korean trade and investment office in Phnom Penh to work out ways to halt the precipitous drop in South Korean travellers to the Kingdom

BLOOMBERG

Korean Air has seen passenger numbers on its Cambodia routes decline.

AIRLINE carrier Korean Air is teaming up with the Korean Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) to develop a strategy to arrest a dramatic decline in Korean tourist arrivals in Cambodia in recent months.

Tourism Ministry figures show arrivals from South Korea were down 38.24 percent year-on-year in January to 22,524. On the whole, arrivals from all countries in January fell just 2.19 percent from a year earlier to 218,691 in the wake of the financial crisis.

Vietnam shook the trend with arrivals in January up 27.06 percent year-on-year to 22,875. The surge meant the country overtook South Korea as the top market for tourist arrivals.

Sokhara Ted Tan, deputy general manager of the airline's sales office in Phnom Penh, said Korean Air had been hit hard on its twin routes to Cambodia as tourist arrivals dwindled in the wake of the global financial crisis.

"This year is a difficult one, but by 2010 we hope the economy will be recovering," he said. Korean Air runs seven flights a week between Cambodia and Incheon with routes from Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.