PHNOM PENH, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Angkor Wat temples, one of the World Heritage sites, had received 1.16 million foreign visitors, or 56 percent of the total 2.08 million international visitors to the country in the first nine months of this year, the Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said here Wednesday.
“The majority of the foreign tourists visit Angkor Wat temples,” he told a national workshop on Tourism Development Strategic Plan 2011-2020 and the National Ecotourism Policy, which was attended by some 300 tourism officials and tourism-related businesspeople.
The country has a lot of tourism destinations in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, pristine coastal provinces in Southwest, and ecotourism sites in Northeast part, so it’s very crucial to attract those tourists to these destinations besides Angkor Wat temples, he said.
The Angkor archeological park is the country's largest cultural tourism destination; it is located in Northwest of Cambodia, some 315 kilometers away from Phnom Penh.
Speaking at the opening of the workshop, the Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon, minister of economy and finance, said that diversifying tourism products and destinations as well as developing eco-tourism sector will be a catalyst in promoting tourism sector development in the country.
The tourism industry is one of the main four pillars supporting the Cambodian economy. In 2010, the sector received 2.5 million foreign tourists generating the total revenue of 1.75 billion U.S. dollars.
Thong Khon said the country expects to attract 4.5 million inbound tourists in 2015 and 7 million inbound visitors in 2020, generating national revenue of around 5 billion U.S. dollars and creating around 1 million jobs in 2020.
No comments:
Post a Comment