Cambodia receives 5 million foreign visitors last year

Cambodia receives 5 million foreign visitors last year (Photo: Arian Zwegers/flickr)

PHNOM PENH—Cambodia attracted some 5 million international tourists in 2016, a 5 percent rise year-on-year, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said Tuesday.

The largest sources of foreign tourists to the kingdom were Vietnam, China, Thailand, South Korea and Laos.

“The tourism industry earned a gross revenue of more than USD3 billion last year, accounting for 13 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP),” he said at the ministry’s annual conference.

The sector generated some 620,000 direct jobs, he said.

According to the minister, the Southeast Asian country has 647 hotels with 36,236 rooms and 1,996 guesthouses with 28,995 rooms.

Cambodia is famous for the Angkor archeological park, a world heritage site, in northwestern Siem Reap province.

Besides, it has a 450-km pristine coastline stretching across four provinces in the country’s southwestern area.

Ngov Sengkak, director of Siem Reap Provincial Tourism Department, said the Angkor archeological park received some 2.2 million foreign tourists last year, accounting for 44 percent of the total foreigners visiting the kingdom.