Tourists visiting the Angkor Wat temple complex, a Unesco World Heritage Site, in Siem Reap province. - AFP
PHNOM PENH (Xinhua): Cambodia's famed Angkor Archeological Park attracted 83,854 foreign tourists in the first seven months of 2022, up 13.5 times compared to the same period last year, said a press statement on Thursday.
The ancient site made US$3.37mil (RM15mil) in revenue from ticket sales during the January-July period this year, also up 13 folds year-on-year, said the state-owned Angkor Enterprise's statement.
In July alone, the Angkor welcomed 23,871 foreigners, up 52 times compared to the same month last year, it said.
Located in the northwest Siem Reap province, the 401sq km Angkor Archeological Park, inscribed on the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in 1992, is the most popular tourist destination in the South-East Asian country.
Tourism Minister Thong Khon said on Monday that foreigners, who come to live and work in Cambodia for two years or longer, will be allowed to visit the Angkor free of charge, saying that the move was to encourage more tourists to the site.
He said foreign tourists buying a one-day entrance ticket can visit Angkor for two days, while the three-day pass will be increased to five days of visit and the seven-day pass to 10 days of visit.
The entrance fee for a one-day visit to the site is US$37 (RM165), a three-day visit costs US$62 (RM276), and a week-long visit costs US$72 (RM320).
Long Kosal, deputy director-general of the Apsara National Authority, said Angkor is predicted to attract more tourists in the coming months and years as the Covid-19 pandemic has waned.
"As our country has reopened its borders to all travellers without quarantine, I believe that more international tourists will spend their holidays at Angkor in the near future," he told Xinhua.
During the pre-pandemic era, Angkor received up to 2.2 million international visitors in 2019, generating US$99mil (RM441mil) in revenue from ticket sales, according to the Angkor Enterprise.
