PHNOM PENH, Dec 5 (Xinhua): Cambodia had received 1.26 million foreign visitors during the first 10 months of 2020, down 76 per cent from 5.29 million over the same period last year, according to the latest report released by the Ministry of Tourism.
China, Thailand, and Vietnam were the largest sources of foreign travelers to the kingdom during the January-October period this year, the report said.
In October alone, Cambodia attracted only 20,210 foreign visitors, a 95.8 percent drop from 481,782 over the same month last year, the report said.
The huge slump was due to the Covid-19 pandemic that forced the Southeast Asian nation to impose entry restrictions for all foreign travelers since March.
Ministry of Tourism secretary of state and spokesman Top Sopheak pinned hopes for a tourism recovery on Covid-19 vaccines.
"If Covid-19 vaccines are available, we hope that the number of international tourist arrivals to the kingdom will rebound gradually in the first quarter of 2021," he told Xinhua.
He added that China would undoubtedly remain the biggest source of tourists to Cambodia in the post-COVID-19 era thanks to excellent ties between the two countries.
Tourism is one of the four pillars supporting Cambodia's economy, and the country received 6.6 million international visitors in 2019, earning gross revenue of US$4.9 billion.
Meanwhile, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Friday evening that six more local people tested positive for the Covid-19, raising the total number of infected people in the first-ever community transmission to 29.
"Today, we found that six more people tested positive for the Covid-19," Hun Sen said in an audio message released to the public.
Meanwhile, Hun Sen announced that from now on, the Ministry of Health (MoH) would disclose the detailed identity of the Covid-19-infected people on its social media platforms so that authorities could find out the people involved faster and the people involved could know and come out for testing by themselves. - XInhua
