CAMBODIA: Despite the raging pandemic, fear of infection and closed-down locations, Cambodia is still managing to attract tourists, both domestic and international, as it eyes a reopening of borders later this year. The country played host to almost 75,000 tourists in the first weekend of July.

Minister of Tourism, Mr. Thong Khon, says 73,000 international travelers and 1,100 domestic tourists, enjoyed Cambodia’s sunny beaches, forested mountains, temples and cities. The data shows that it is the Capital that remains the chief destination, with more than 15,000 visitors. The beaches and islands of Sihanoukville were the second most popular, with Battambang third.

The numbers seem impressive, but are 60% down on July 2020. Cambodia’s tourism industry has been dramatically affected by the pandemic. In 2019 it accounted for 12% of the country’s GDP with 6m tourists. In 2020 those figures had slumped to 3%, with just 1.1m visitors, but things are looking up.

Government is working on a plan to start welcoming fully-vaccinated tourists from the 4th quarter of this year, with its inoculation progress way ahead of its main tourism rivals, Thailand and Vietnam.