Heavy blow to Cambodia tourism

Busier times: A file photo of tourists visiting Ta Prohm Temple in Siem Reap province. — AFP

ABOUT 385 hotels and guesthouses, or 78% of the hotels and guesthouses in northwest Cambodia’s Siem Reap province, have been either suspended or closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a provincial tourism chief said.

Speaking at a press conference in Phnom Penh yesterday, Ngov Seng Kak, director of the Siem Reap provincial tourism department, said that prior to the pandemic, the province had a total of 230 hotels and 261 guesthouses, employing nearly 80,000 people and indirectly benefiting over 300,000 people.