Cambodia’s
Statistics and Tourist
Information Department,
Ministry of Tourism,
reported arrivals increased 15.7% in September.
The
increase for the nine-month period was pulled down from 24.5% at the
end of August to 23.6%. From January to September Cambodia tallied
2,577,540 international tourists.
This is an increase of 24 percent in comparison to the same period in
2011.
The
data from the report indicated
that around 1,480,000 foreign tourists toured the Angkor Wat Temple
in the province of Siem-Reap.
Among
the source markets with
the most visitors were Vietnam, South Korea, China, Laos
andThailand in
this order. Vietnamese visitors
to Cambodia stood at a staggering 579,890 which was 25 percent more
than last year. South Korea had 306,550 visitors. China came in third
with an increase of 32 percent in numbers to 234,440 visitors.
Tourists
from Laos numbered 177,140 while Thailand brought in
137,430 of them. This was an increase of 90 percent and 70 percent
respectively.
According
to the report, foreign tourist numbers could hit the 3 million
mark before the close of this year. The Cambodian economy is mainly
anchored in the tourism industry. In 2011, the country
raked in a total income of USD 1.9 billion
from the tourism industry with numbers standing slightly
above 2.8 billion foreign visitors.
