APD | Direct flight surge help boost Kingdom’s tourism and trade

By APD writer Kin Ratha

There has been a surge in number of direct flight between Cambodia and China, which is already the top market for the Kingdom’s tourism and investment.

Ministry of Tourism released recently a brief report, saying that now the Kingdom has been connected with many flights with China by air connectivity is also soaring as of half this year reaching 500 flights per week.

State Secretariat of Civil Aviation announced on early this week that now the country’s Phnom Penh capital connected with 23 cities in China, while Siem Reap and Preah Sihnouk linked direct route with 23 and 15 destinations in the country, respectively.

SSCA noted that a total of 19 airline companies directly link by air service between the two countries – 14 of which are Chinese and the rest is local airline companies.

Government officials in the sector said direct flights connecting Cambodia to the rest of the world is the government prioritized strategy in term of attracting foreign tourist arrivals.

Having had reached to large number direct route by air connectivity to China in particular, official said this will be a critical part of achieving 15 million foreign tourists by 2030 as targeted by Tourism Ministry while this year the ministry expects to receive 6.7million foreign tourists, 7million by 2020.

Tourism ministry’s latest figure, from January to June, the Kingdom welcomed 3.3million tourist arrivals, 11 per cent increased over the same period last year. The ministry noted Chinese is the top market followed by Vietnam.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)