PHNOM PENH: Minister of Tourism Thong Khon confirmed that in the first five months of 2023, Cambodia welcomed about 2.1 million international tourists, a 530% increase from the same period in 2022. He also reported about 10 million domestic travellers. The minister predicts that Cambodia will receive about four million international tourists total for 2023, in addition to at least 16 million domestic travellers.

Thong Khon made opening remarks at the fifth meeting to address Cambodia’s plan for tourism recovery post Covid-19 on the morning of June 14. He said, "This achievement is in line with the projections outlined in the ‘Roadmap for Recovery of Cambodia Tourism During and Post Covid-19’, which is a five-year-plan to rehabilitate and restore the number of international tourists to pre-pandemic levels in 2025 or 2026 at the latest.”

He said that preparing the draft for the National Strategic Plan for Tourism Development 2023-2035 is crucial to the journey towards a better future with the rise of tourism in Cambodia; that it requires the cooperation of relevant ministries, institutions and the private sector. The draft has four chapters and 13 sections, setting out three strategic goals and ten key strategies.

He then ordered a specialized team to study and prepare national strategies for tourism development to make the National Strategic Plan more effective. He asked that they be respectful in their requests to the Deputy Prime Minister who must submit their plan to the National Committee for Tourism Development. The committee will review the plan before submitting it for approval from the Royal Government or a plenary session of the Council of Ministers.