SIEM Reap province saw a 36 percent increase in foreign tourists over
the first two months of 2011, according to figures obtained from the
Siem Reap Provincial Tourism Department.
Some 312,947 visitors came to the province in January and February, from 229,654 for the same months in 2010, it showed.
The
government and private sector have strongly promoted the ancient
temples to potential tourists abroad, who have responded by arriving in
increasing numbers to Cambodia as the global economy improves, according
to Department Director Ngov Seng Kak.
“We predict the number of visitors will rise to 1.7 million during this year, and 2 million by 2015,” he said on Sunday.
Some
65,751 visitors arrived from South Korea in the first two months of
2011, making it the largest source of visitors to the province. Japan
was the home country for 25,780 visitors, while China sent 24,370
visitors, the statistics show. However, Ngov Seng Kak said the number of
Japanese tourists have been decreasing following the Japanese
earthquake on March 11.
Siem Reap had regularly been seeing up
500 Japanese visitors arrive daily before the disaster, but the figure
has dropped to between 300 and 400 following the earthquake, he said.
Despite the drop industry observers agree the sector has generally seen a
rebound this year.
Source: Phnom Penh Post
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