Phnom Penh: The Ministry of Tourism has confirmed that it is working towards a reopening of borders to international tourists in the last quarter of this year. A specific date has not been set, but talks have been held with the tourism sector about a possible restart of tourism around November. Hotels in the kingdom are champing at the bit to welcome back much needed tourists.
Hotels have long said they’ve always been ready to welcome international tourists back, with occupancy rates having been hit by hard by the pandemic for over 18 months, but Cambodia is on its way to reissuing tourist visas later this year. Ministry of Tourism spokesperson, Top Sopheak, told EAC News that the preparation of the country’s reopening is underway, although an exact date has not been set.
The city’s newest five-star hotel, Hyatt Regency Phnom Penh, has been playing an active part in coordination of the reopening roadmap between the government and industry players. General Manager, Herman Kemp, says while no specific month has been confirmed, there’s a strong indication that it will be November. He says one of the things being looked at is allowing fully-vaccinated travelers in with a shorter quarantine period, and that the hotel is standing by:
“We never stopped preparing. I think the team is ready to go and I think that’s not only for us but for the whole industry. All of us are very, very excited that there’s light at the end of the tunnel now. So, hopefully things do get the green light soon and if that happens, I think not only us but a lot of the other hotels around and restaurants around will be gearing up and ready to go as long as our hygiene measures in place which we do, as long as we follow the government mandates, we can make sure that we can have a safe environment and then we will be ready to go.”
Across the capital at the iconic Raffles Hotel Le Royal, management has also expressed its excitement about an approaching reopening. Hotel Manager, Dennis de Groot, says they have been prepared all the time, having recently been added to the list of approved hotels for Alternate State Quarantine:
“Very prepared. Of course, our core, Raffles falls under the core umbrella and successfully launched the all-safe program which follows the stringent set of protocols and guidelines for sanitary for both guests and staff to follow our 16 fundamentals as well as the three touch points which broken down into staff, guests, front and back of our areas. So very well prepared. The advantage we have here is that we’re not one long building. It’s very spread out. We have different wings, airy, a lot of balconies, there’s unique ceiling points as well, sanitizations, masks, vaccination. The kingdom has been so good as well. Definitely a lot of policies, procedures and protocols our hotel’s followed both international as well as local waiting for tourism by the end of this year.”
Both Hyatt and Raffles say their reservation books are open and waiting for international tourists excited to visit the kingdom of wonder.
