Phnom Penh: As at end of November, Cambodia will reopen for COVID-19 fully vaccinated travelers. Now, the newly-appointed President of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents (CATA), Chhay Sivlin, has announced on Friday that tour operators and travel agents are ready to welcome domestic and foreign tourists.

“Since the government announced to reopen for vaccinated tourists, we, the tour operators, have prepared to receive their arrivals,” said Chhay Sivlin.

The president of CATA has planned strategies to attract more foreign tourists to the Kingdom, by working closely with stakeholders in ASEAN countries and other international communities, in order to appeal developments and economy recovery.

One of the obstacles that CATA will have to face is the rising of air tickets to Cambodia, with the current prices higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, facing the closure and restrictions of travel in other countries in Asia, such as China.

According to the 2020 Tourism Statistics Report, last year, Cambodia welcomed 1.3 international tourists, down 80.2 percent from 6.6 million in 2019. As of June this year, Cambodia suffered a decline of 90.8 percent from 1.18 million in the same period of 2020, receiving only 108,000 foreign visitors.