Cambodia anticipates Chinese arrivals after pandemic

Cambodia hopes Chinese visitors will drive its tourism growth when the COVID-19 pandemic clears worldwide, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said on Saturday.

Khon says the pandemic has severely affected the country's tourism.

But he's optimistic Chinese tourists will support the kingdom's tourism growth when the coronavirus is over.

The minister says mutual assistance and trust between the two countries in the fight against COVID-19 has not only deepened bilateral ties but also earned praise from both nations.

"The visit of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen to Beijing in February during the virus outbreak has received lavish praise from the Chinese people. And through this visit, I believe that more Chinese people will spend their holidays in Cambodia when the COVID-19 crisis is over," Khon says.

China has been Cambodia's largest source of inbound tourists since 2017.Cambodia's tourism industry, which stood at $4.92 billion before the pandemic, is being hit hard by the outbreak. Tourism data shows Cambodia received 223,400 inbound visitors in March, a 65 percent decrease over the same period last year.

Air-passenger numbers dropped by more than 90 percent in April, according to the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation. And ticket sales at Cambodia's world-famous Angkor archaeological park fell by 99 percent in April.

Secretary of State and Tourism Ministry spokesman Top Sopheak says: "Before COVID-19, the Angkor archaeological park in Siem Reap province received up to 9,000 foreign tourists a day. But now, it gets only 20 per day, and those are foreigners living and working in Cambodia."

To prepare to receive Chinese tourists during the post-COVID-19 era, Cambodia will continue to promote its "China Ready" strategy and urge tourism-related businesses and attractions to implement additional health and safety measures for travelers, he says.

Cambodia has banned the entry of visitors from six countries－the United States, Italy, Germany, Spain, France and Iran－since mid-March. And it has imposed entry restrictions for all foreigners since March 30 to curb COVID-19.

Cambodia Association of Travel Agents president Chhay Sivlin says all of the kingdom's travel companies have suspended operations during the pandemic, affecting more than 30,000 employees.

"Although Cambodia has detected no new COVID-19 cases for over one month, there are still only a few foreign tourists coming to the country because they're still scared of the virus and our travel restrictions remain in effect," she says.

Sivlin agrees that Chinese tourists will be the main driver of tourism growth after the pandemic. Agencies will unveil new tour packages to attract Chinese when the outbreak is over, she says.

"We will design our strategy again to attract tourists during the post-COVID-19 era, and the strategy will focus on hygiene, health and social distancing on buses and in restaurants," she says.

Clais Chenda, president of the Cambodia Hotel Association, which represents about 250 hotels in the country, says almost all hotels have either partially or completely suspended business due to the virus.

"Our tourism mainly depends on foreign tourists. Due to the pandemic, there are very few foreigners coming to Cambodia at this time. So, most of the hotels have been temporarily closed," she says.

"Currently, we are negotiating with landlords who lease premises to hotels to reduce their rental prices in order to enable us to survive this difficult time."

Xinhua