In a move underlining the government’s commitment to reviving the tourism sector, Prime Minister Hun Manet chaired a high-level meeting yesterday to assess the progress of the newly formed Cambodia Tourism Marketing and Promotion Board (CTB).
Established on July 1, 2024, the CTB is tasked with spearheading international marketing efforts to attract tourists to the Kingdom’s top destinations.
The meeting brought together key stakeholders, including representatives from relevant ministries, tourism industry leaders, and CTB board members.
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.
Sok Soken, Minister of Tourism and Chairman of CTB, said the meeting was a constructive step to encourage the private sector to work alongside the government collaboratively and share responsibility.
“This collaborative approach aims to advance Cambodia’s tourism industry in alignment with global tourism trends and the rapidly changing regional landscape, emphasizing adaptability to ensure competitiveness, sustainability, inclusivity and resilience,” Soken said.
The CTB will act as a platform to enable the private sector to fully collaborate with the Royal Government under the principle of ‘think together, act together and take responsibility together,’ both in funding and technical and conceptual contributions to promote the tourism sector.
CTB will significantly contribute to the government’s vision of turning Cambodia into a leading and vibrant tourism destination.
Tourism is one of the four pillars supporting Cambodia’s economy, in addition to garments, footwear, and travel goods export, agriculture, and construction, and real estate.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia welcomed 2.6 million international tourists in the first five months of 2024, marking a notable 22 percent increase from the 1.72 million recorded during the same period last year.
The three largest sources of international tourist arrivals to Cambodia during the January-April period this year were Thailand, Vietnam, and China.
Cambodia is well-known for its world cultural heritage sites, namely the Angkor Archaeological Park in Siem Reap province, the Preah Vihear Temple and Koh Ker Temple in Preah Vihear province, and the Sambor Prei Kuk Archaeological Site in Kampong Thom province
Besides ancient temples, the Kingdom has a 450-kilometre-long pristine coastline stretching across four south-western provinces of Preah Sihanouk, Kampot, Kep and Koh Kong.
