Foreign travelers to Cambodia by air rise 13 pct in last 6 months

     PHNOM PENH, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia’s two international airports have received 889,827 foreign travelers in the first six months of this year, increased by 13 percent from 789,265 in the same period a year ago, according to the statistics from the Cambodia Airports on Wednesday.

   The figure showed that, from January to June this year, the travelers entered Cambodia through the Phnom Penh International Airport increased by 10 percent to 445,225 from 404,818 in the same period last year; and the travelers via the Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport rose by 15.6 percent to 444,602 from 384,447.

   Kong Sophearak, director of Tourism Ministry’s Statistics Department, attributed the rise to more foreign countries have begun their direct flights to Cambodia and some existing airlines have increased flights, or expanded flight destinations.

   “It’s also thanks to our open-sky policy and the country’s richness in cultural, historical, eco-tourism destinations,” he said.

   The consolidated data on foreign tourists to Cambodia by air, land and water in the first half of this year is not available yet, he said, but it’s obvious that Vietnam still stands number one, South Korea and China at number two and three respectively.

   Tourism is one of the four major pillars supporting Cambodia’s economy. The Ministry of Tourism predicts that Cambodia could receive 2.73 million international visitors this year with estimated revenue of 1.9 billion U.S. dollars.