PHNOM PENH: Hoteliers are gearing up for a full reopening of the country’s borders to fully-vaccinated travellers and have welcomed the interim step of shortening quarantine periods. Last week the Royal Government announced that fully-vaccinated tourists would only need to quarantine for between 3 and 7 days, depending on their status and just over the weekend, bans on incoming flights from some countries were lifted. While Cambodia hasn’t yet started to feel the effects of a tourism revival, EAC News asked one Phnom Penh hotel manager what the industry thinks about the changes.
In recent days, Cambodia, long with other ASEAN countries, has taken huge strides towards a reopening of its borders. Thailand will open its borders on 1 November to fully-vaccinated travellers, quarantine-free, for a whole list of countries, including Cambodia. Prime Minister Hun Sen wants the kingdom to reciprocate, as soon as possible. Government has also lifted its ban on flights, with immediate effect, from Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia, a ban that was imposed 15 months ago.
While the region gets its flight schedules organized, Cambodia’s hotel industry is already preparing to welcome new visitors. EAC News sat down with Baitong Hotel’s General Manager Frank Guglielmo. He says government’s decision to shorten quarantine periods is a great step:
“I think it’s a good sign, it’s a good first step. Let’s see in the next future, the next few weeks and few months, if we see some real difference and improvement in terms of traffic in the country. Hopefully all the countries around in Southeast Asia will go in the same direction so we can see some people from the countries around and see a real change …Time will tell”.
He says an increase in tourists is all down to the airlines:
“It will depend on the airline companies and the countries around, what they will decided to do. But what I think is that tourists are really eager to travel now, since almost two years they are staying in their own country and they are really excited, I think, to come back or to come for the first time to this beautiful country of Cambodia, so let’s be positive, optimistic and get ready to welcome all of them.”
Fully-vaccinated tourists arriving in Cambodia now need to spend only seven days in quarantine and if they wish to book that quarantine ahead of time, they also have two additional hotels to choose from – Olympia City and Tokyo Inn - both owned by the Dara hotel group. Himawari and Raffles Hotel le Royal were also recently added to the list of so-called Alternative State Quarantine Hotels in Phnom Penh.
