Siem Reap Provincial Administration is initiating measures on inter-sectoral cooperation to strengthen the quality of tourism services and develop new tourism products in the province and prepare the Angkor area to be a quality visit destination.
Addressing a consultation workshop on the ‘Preparation of Siem Reap Tourism Development Plan 2025-2028’ organized by Siem Reap-Angkor Tourism Management and Development Committee, Deputy Governor of Siem Reap Province Ngouv Sengkak Monday said that the number of tourists visiting Siem Reap has increased significantly for the first eight months of 2024.
Siem Reap received a total of more than 650,000 international tourists, an increase of 31 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
The workshop was chaired by Thong Khon, Senior Minister for Special Mission and Chairman of the Siem Reap-Angkor Tourism Management and Development Committee.
Sok Soken, Minister of Tourism and Permanent Vice Chairman of the Siem Reap-Angkor Tourism Management and Development Committee was also present on the occasion.
Sengkak said that the tourism business is gradually reopening and the flow of international tourists is further expected to touch new heights with new flights to Siem Reap including Thai Airways will start operating daily flights on the Bangkok-Siem Reap-Bangkok route on October 27. Similarly, Air Asia will operate from Siem Reap-Phuket-Siem Reap on October 29.
“To make Siem Reap an attractive tourist province for national and international tourists in 2024, the provincial administration with the support of the government and the MoT has made efforts to improve the quality of tourism services, the development of new tourism products in the province and the preparation of Angkor to become a quality destination,” Sengkak said.
“Currently, the Apsara National Authority (ANA) has prepared a pedestrian pathway for walking in the Angkor forestry and a bicycle path for tourists who like to walk in the forest and see nature in the Angkor area. In the future, the provincial administration plans to designate the Siem Reap River and Wat Reach Bo area as the third recreation area after Angkor and Pub Street,” Sengkak underlined.
Thong Khon said that the Royal Government of Cambodia under the leadership of Prime Minister Hun Manet has been continuing to lead the country towards progress and create more new achievements by strengthening the efficiency and expanding the scope of implementation of the Pentagon Strategy – Phase 1.
He further said that the Prime Minister paid high attention to the rehabilitation and development of tourism, especially tourism in Siem Reap province by introducing a series of measures to meet the challenges in accordance with the request of the private sector and the Ministry of Tourism.
“The government continues to ease the burden of operators in the tourism sector and rehabilitate the tourism sector in Siem Reap by exempting monthly taxes, value added tax and accommodation tax until the end of June 2025, as well as providing $50 million through the Cambodian Small and Medium Enterprise Bank (SME Bank) to provide loans to tour operators in Siem Reap and also more other incentive packages,” said Khon.
He urged all stakeholders to continue to work hard to implement these key government measures, especially to strengthen the management and development of key priority tourist destinations, with clear plans to complement each other.
