Cambodia expects up to 7.5 mln foreign tourists in 2025: minister

Cambodia is projected to attract up to 7.5 million international tourists in 2025, Tourism Minister Huot Hak said here on Wednesday.

The Southeast Asian nation received 6.7 million foreign visitors in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 23 percent, he said, adding that the country earned a gross revenue of 3.63 billion U.S. dollars from the tourism industry last year, a year-on-year rise of 18 percent.

"For 2025, we hope the number of international tourists to Cambodia will increase to between 7.2 million and 7.5 million," he said in a speech during the opening ceremony of the Ministry of Tourism's annual conference.

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

The tourism sector contributed about 9.4 percent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024, up from 7.5 percent in the year before, said a Ministry of Tourism report, adding that the sector has created 510,000 direct jobs.

Top five arrival markets last year were Thailand, Vietnam, China, Laos, and the United States.

The country has four UNESCO-listed world heritage sites, namely the Angkor Archaeological Park in the northwest Siem Reap province, the Temple Zone of Sambor Prei Kuk in the central Kampong Thom province, and the Temple of Preah Vihear and the Koh Ker archaeological site in the northwest Preah Vihear province.

Besides, it has a pristine coastline stretching in the length of about 450 km in four southwest provinces of Sihanoukville, Kampot, Kep, and Koh Kong.

xinhua