Cambodia eyes China market

PHNOM PENH Cambodia government plans to create a specialised agency that will concentrate on improving the travel experience for Chinese tourists.

Phnom Penh Post quoted Tourism Minister Thong Khon saying the “China-ready” centre and accreditation system would support the goals of a white paper on China tourism that was released in January.

The document outlines strategies to capitalise on the rapid growth in Chinese inbound tourism, with the aim of drawing roughly 2 million Chinese tourists per year by 2020.

One of them involves improving services for Chinese and accrediting companies that want to work in the China inbound tourism segment.

Last year, the country attracted 4.77 million international visits compared to 4.50 million in 2014. Chinese arrivals ranked second at 694,712 visits in 2015 increasing 24.0% from 560,335 visits in 2014.

According to MasterCard Asia Pacific Destinations Index 2016, China will continue to contribute the largest share of tourists to Asia Pacific in 2016.

It estimates that 50.4 million tourists from China will visit destinations across Asia Pacific this year, making up 15.7% of all international overnight arrivals in the region.

This year, Chinese travellers are also expected to spend USD45.3 billion in Asia Pacific destinations, up 18.2%.