PHNOM PENH: On the first day of Khmer New Year celebrations, the Ministry of Tourism reported about 2 million tourists in the country.

The report, published on 15 April 2023, tallied numbers from resorts and tourist attractions for the previous day and saw that 2,098,501 people traveled for the holiday-2,079,670 of which were Cambodian nationals and 18,831 were foreign visitors.

The main tourist destinations included Battambang, Phnom Penh, Svay Rieng, Kandal,

Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Chhnang, Preah Sihanouk and Kampot provinces, while Siem Reap had the highest number of tourists at 436,679.

The Ministry of Tourism noted that the flow of tourists on the first day of Khmer New Year was very active and increased by 143.19% compared to 2022 numbers, which came in at around 860,000.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, the statistics only include the number of tourists who visit the resorts and major tourist destinations and do not include numbers of people visiting smaller venues or hometown villages.

The ministry noted that the country did not experience any major issues of security, crowd control or quality control when providing tourism services on the first day of the celebrations. The number of revelers is expected to grow on day two of the festivities as some people were still waiting for the confirmation of this year’s angel, Mimira Devi, which happened on Friday.