Prime Minister Hun Manet Thursday called for connecting direct flights from the major tourist destinations in the world to Siem Reap.
Mr Hun Manet highlighted this during a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Samdech Pin Sem Museum in Siem Reap province.
To attract more tourists to visit Cambodia, especially Siem Reap province – a historical tourist destination – he requested to establish more connecting direct flights from major tourist destinations from other countries to Siem Reap.
“We want to connect direct flight with each other. We have negotiated to open direct flights with India, but we also need direct flights with other areas,” said Mr Hun Manet.
He continued that he met with the Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines to Cambodia, Flerida Ann Camille P. Mayo and requested direct flights from Cebu Island to Siem Reap.
“Negotiation are in the process for opening direct flights from Langkawi in Malaysia to Siem Reap, from Jeju Island in South Korea to Siem Reap and we are also negotiating for Phuket in Thailand to Siem Reap,” Mr Hun Manet said.
“We are negotiating for more directly flights to Siem Reap, we do not need to fly to Phnom Penh and then to Siem Reap. We have to set more tourist destinations to attract tourists.”
Mr Hun Manet also advised his officials to revoke the sub-degree requiring tourists to stay at least one night in Cambodia, while this old sub-decree has been in force since 1998. The decision to repeal the old sub-decree is to facilitate the travel of tourists.
“I decided to delete a sub-decree since 1998 that required tourists to stay in Cambodia at least one night. Some tourists, when they saw this requirement, changed their mind and did not visit Cambodia and sometimes there are some problems, so I asked to revoke this sub-degree,” the Premier said.
Last week, Mr Hun Manet chaired a high-level meeting to assess the progress of the newly formed Cambodia Tourism Marketing and Promotion Board (CTB). The CTB, formed on July 1, 2024, has been tasked with spearheading international marketing efforts to attract tourists to the Kingdom’s top destinations.
Discussions focused on the CTB’s initial marketing strategies, targeting specific international markets with high growth potential. The meeting also addressed resource allocation and collaboration between CTB and tourism operators in the private sector.
In an effort to improve and attract more tourists, Sok Soken, Minister of Tourism attended the 3rd Cambodia-Thailand Ministerial Meeting on Bilateral Tourism Cooperation from July 17-18, 2024 in Bangkok, Kingdom of Thailand.
According to the announcement of MoT, this 3rd Ministerial Meeting is held under the spirit of the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Tourism Cooperation between Cambodia and Thailand, which was signed in 2014.
The MoT added that the meeting will focus on a number of important agenda items, such as discussing, exchanging and sharing views on tourism development of the two countries, to update the Joint Action Plan on Tourism Cooperation 2023-2025.
The last one is to adopt a joint statement to enhance the implementation of bilateral tourism cooperation between the two countries and set new directions in accordance with the recommendation from the Heads of Government of the two countries.
During this meeting, there will also be a bilateral meeting between the Cambodia Tourism Marketing and Promotion Board (CTB) and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
The meeting aims to promote collaboration and participation of private sectors between the two countries, leading to setting out of a joint action program to boost tourist flow between both countries as well as to attract more tourists from other countries in line with the strategic initiative “BUILD + 3Ds” of the MoT, which aims at expanding the opportunity and promoting Cambodia’s tourism potential more widely in the region and the world.
