Starting next month, certain foreign visitors to Cambodia will be able to apply for multi-entry business and tourist visas lasting as long as three years, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said at a seminar yesterday.

Speaking at a Japanese-Cambodian tourism conference, Khon went on to bill the measure as an effort to “promote tourism growth”.

“The government has approved the new policy for multi-entry visas, which international tourists and investors can apply for at the airport for one, two or three years, and we will start to implement this on September 1,” Khon said.

However, Sok Veasna, an official with the Interior ministry’s General Department of Immigration, said that many of the details of the visas were yet to be sorted out.

“The multi-entry visa is being implemented from September 1 for international tourists and international businessmen, but the conditions of stay and payment fees will vary depending on the agreements between the government and each [other] country’s government,” Veasna said, adding that so far only Japan had finalised such an agreement, giving its citizens the option to apply for one-, two- and three-year visas.

China and South Korea are currently applying for the three-year option. Depending on the individual agreements, some visa holders may be required to leave the country at certain intervals, Veasna added.

Chhay Sivlin, of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, lauded the move as offering “convenience for tourists”.

“It is important for international tourists or businesspeople who are looking to come back again with their family or friends, or for meetings with business partners,” she said.