Cambodia registered nearly 270,000 national and international tourists during the third week of July, said the Ministry of Tourism in a report.

Of the registered number, the source pointed out, 229,519 were national tourists and 39,837 were internal foreign visitors.

Battambang northwestern province was crowned the most visited destination last week, while Preah Sihanouk coastal province fell to second place, followed by Phnom Penh capital and the provinces of Kampot, Siem Reap, Kampong Speu, and Pursat.

Tourism is one of the four pillars supporting Cambodia’s economy, in addition to garment export, agriculture, and construction and real estate.

The target for Cambodia’s tourism in 2023 is to increase the number of international tourist arrivals from 4 to 4.5 million.

Cambodia became the first country in ASEAN to fully re-open for international travellers in October 2022. That helped increase international arrivals to 2.23 million by the end of 2022. Cambodia expects to receive around 4 million international visitors by the end of 2023, 5 million in 2024 and 7 million in 2025.

Initially, foreign tourists visiting Cambodia wished to see only Angkor Wat temple. Through the preparation of new tour packages, tourists are now starting to enjoy more nature tourism, adventure activities, community-based tourism, ecotourism and learning about the lives of people and local food. Phal Sophanith – AKP/TTR