Foreign visitors to Angkor Wat rise by a quarter to 804,000

Oct 15, 2010, 4:40 GMT

Phnom Penh - The number of foreign tourists visiting the Angkor Wat temple complex, Cambodia's key tourist attraction, climbed 24 per cent in the first nine months of this year, local media reported Friday.

The Apsara Authority, which manages the temples, told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper that 804,000 people had visited the complex this year compared with 649,000 in the same period last year.

However Bun Narith, who heads the Apsara Authority, said the impact on revenues was unclear.

'(For example) some 200 to 300 government delegations attended meetings in Siem Reap, and they visit Angkor Wat for free,' he said.

The president of the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents said up to 80 per cent of foreign tourists visit Angkor Wat, which is situated outside Siem Reap town in western Cambodia.

'Most guests think they haven't seen Cambodia if they miss visiting Angkor Wat,' Ang Kim Eang said.

The number of tourists to the kingdom is up 15 per cent this year, but big-spending visitors from the United States and the United Kingdom are down 4 per cent. The average foreign tourist spends 112 dollars a day when in-country.

Most of this year's increase in tourist numbers has come from neighbouring Vietnam, whose citizens typically spend less and do not stay as long.

The government is targeting 2.4 million tourists this year, 11 per cent up on last year.

Tourism is one of Cambodia's four economic pillars, along with agriculture, garment manufacturing and construction. Agriculture was the only pillar not badly hit by the 2008 global economic crisis.

Read more about Cambodia Tourism