Chinese passenger arrivals via the three international airports are the main trend providing steady growth, a senior officer at Cambodia Airports says, but Cambodians flying abroad are following the Chinese pattern.
Eric Delobel, CEO of Cambodia Airports, said Cambodian passengers had become the main factor in the steady growth of the three airports.
This has pushed Cambodia Airports to diversify traffic with more countries in the region, Mr Delobel, said at French Week 2018, held recently in Siem Reap province.
He said the airport was to seek sustainable development via diversification of transit in the region.
He said Chinese passengers were the main travelers in term of absolute value and in term of routes.
As of 2017, Chinese passengers represented about 25 percent of total passengers, a 60 percent increase compared with 2016.
This was an amazing increase in Chinese passengers, Mr Delobel said. He added that more than a million Cambodian passengers travelled in 2017, representing the second-top nationality of our airports’ passengers.
“That means a trend of Cambodian people travelling abroad through three airports. That is something that is growing a lot. And it provides the country with diversification of traffic.”
The main challenge for the airport and for tourism in Cambodia was to target diversification, he said.
“Asean is what we are targeting today. By having diversified traffic, you will have sustainable development. We are targeting working with all airlines to better connect Cambodia with all the countries in Asean,” he said.
Cambodia Airports had to work towards better connections with the Philippines, Indonesia, India and Russia, plus all of Asia.
Luu Meng, the co-chairman of the Government-Private Sector Tourism Working Group, said airlines market competition, economic income, and more destinations connected with Cambodia were among the main factors which had pushed people to travel.
