TOURISM

In order to attract more tourists and whole national profit, Prime Minister HUN SEN had announced open-skies plan early this month and said that he had signed an order for direct flight to Siem Reap from Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong because he said “the government has to look at the whole jungle, not just the trees”, that means he doesn’t mind the loss of Royal Air Cambodge, but he just needs the whole nation to survive.

The government opens the new entry points for visitors who arrive by boat in Koh Kong, Sihanoukville and Khoam Samnor in Prey Veng provinces. Tourist visa on demand will be provided at the points. The above-news is reported by Ministry of Tourism on 20^th February 2001.

Due to the stable situation in Cambodia, tourist sector has greatly developed and is expected to increase 1,000,000 in 2003 and it was created 100,000 job opportunities in 2000 and estimated it will create 160,000 job opportunities in 2005.

* Categories of Foreign Visitors:

The foreign visitors to Cambodia are broadly grouped into three categories, namely:

International Visitors are those who come to Cambodia by using passport and with a valid visa obtained from a Cambodian embassy or consulate, or through visa on arrival at international airport at international border checkpoints.

Transit Tourist People are those tourists who visit neighboring countries, and arrive in Cambodia for a few days and return back during their travelling.

Excursionist Visitors (Same-Day Visitors) are visitors from neighboring countries enter Cambodia by using border passes.

* Entry Ports (International Accesses to Cambodia):

In order to increase the number of tourist arrivals to its utmost potential, more convenient international accesses need to be established. Currently, there are on six officially opened international accesses to Cambodia. They are as below:

1- By Air:

-   Pochentong International Airport (Phnom Penh City)

-   Siem Reap-Only Direct Charter Flights (Siem Reap Province)

2- By Road:

From Vietnam:

                 -      Bavet: Located in Svay Rieng province. It is a major point of entry for Vietnamese travelers.

From Thailand:

                 -      Poi Pet: Located in Banteay Meanchey province. It is a major point of entry for Thai travelers.

                 -      Preah Vihear: Located in Preah Vihear province. Normally, the travelers visiting Preah Vihear temple, they do not spend the night in the country (Same-Day Visitors Only).

3- By Boat:

From Thailand:

                     -  Cham Yeam: Located in Koh Kong province.

There are two entry points by air for international tourists to the Kingdom of Cambodia and there are ten international flight companies as follows:

* Pochentong Airport (Phnom Penh City):

1-      Royal Air Cambodge          : Phnom Penh-Bangkok, Bangkok-Phnom Penh, Every daily flights.

2-      Lao Aviation                         :    PKZ-Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh-PKZ, every Monday and Friday Flights.

3-      Bangkok Airways                 :    Phnom Penh-Bangkok, Bangkok-Phnom Penh, every daily flights.

4-      Vietnam Airlines                   :    Saigon-Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh-Saigon, every daily flights.

5-      Malaysia Airlines                  :    Kuala Lumpur-Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh-Kuala Lumpur, every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday flights.

6-      SILK Airlines                         :    Singapore-Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh-Singapore, every daily flights.

7-      Thai International Airlines    :    Bangkok-Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh Bangkok, every daily flights.

8-      CSA (China Southern Airlines):   CAN-Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh-CAN, every Monday and Friday flights.

9-      Dragonair Airlines                :    Hong Kong-Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh-Hong Kong, every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday flights.

10-   Kampuchea Airlines            :    Bangkok Phnom Penh and Phnom Penh-Hong Kong, every Tuesday and Friday flights.

11-   Sianghai Airlines                  :    Sianghai-Phnom Penh and Phnom Penh- Sianghai, every Tuesday and Friday Flights.

POCHENTONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

* Siem Reap Airport (Siem Reap Province):

This is the only international entry point by air for foreign visitors in the province that the Royal Government of Cambodia has opened for direct charter flights from Bangkok-Siem Reap-Bangkok in the early January 1998 by Bangkok Airways, ATR, every daily flights. After the announcement of opening sky and stable situation in Cambodia, the tourists will boom with a 30 percent increase of foreign visitors in 2000.

The number of tourists is as below:

Cambodia has many attractions for developing tourism. The major attraction features of the country are:

         -      National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries and other protected areas

         -      Beautiful beaches located at Kompot / Kep, Sihanoukville and the northern coast

         -      Angkor complex is composed of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, other temples located at Siemreap province

         -      Museums including National, Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek museums and Independent monument

         -      Royal Palace and French colonel buildings

         -      Floating villages at Tonle Sap Lake

         -      Evening entertainment including disco, night clubs, karaoke, drama performance, snooker club and restaurant at riverside.

Tourist facilities include hotels, accommodation, restaurants, cafes, travel and tour agency, bank and money exchange, shopping, medical and postal facilities.

* Hotels:

There are approximately 80 hotels and guesthouses which offers 1,250 rooms in the provinces such as Battambang, Kompot, Takeo… etc., total about 8,000 rooms in Cambodia. Most hotels are small and medium size. Among them, several five stars hotels with high quality are Inter-Continental Hotel, Le Royal Hotel (Raffles International), Sunway, and Cambodiana Sofitel in Phnom Penh and Grand hotel (Raffles International) in Siemreap province.

The above-mentioned five stars hotels have conference center facilities with large and medium and interpretation facilities. In addition to the conference center, other new large and medium size hotels also provide meeting and banquet facilities.

* Restaurants:

There are 478 licensed restaurants in Cambodia. A variety of cuisine is available in the restaurant including Khmer, Chinese, Japanese, French, Thai, Indian and Korean Foods. With the great increase of tourist, the new restaurants have recently been built in Phnom Penh, Siemreap and Sihanoukville.

* Tour and Travel Operations:

Over 150 travel agencies have been approved in Cambodia. Most of agencies only handle the ticketing services. A few agencies handle the inbound tours, usually have their own tour buses and tour guides.

* Bank and Money Exchange:

Banking services are available in various banks in Cambodia, especially Phnom Penh and other major cities. Money exchange and credit card are available in the bank and large hotel ((five stars). US Dollars and other currencies such as Chinese, Thai and Singaporean… etc., are acceptable in Cambodia except the smaller transaction.

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