[PHNOM PENH POST]
INBOUND foreign tourists at the Poipet International Checkpoint with
Thailand increased more than 26 percent year-on-year between January and
August, according to checkpoint statistics. More than 273,969 foreign
tourists and traders entered Cambodia during the first eight months of
the year, up from 216,546 during the same time period last year.
“We
saw that foreign tourists maintained a strong increase this year and
Thai tourists have increased since the situation along Cambodia-Thailand
border got better,” Leak Romanea, director of administration at the
Poipet Checkpoint Police Office, said yesterday. “It is a good sign. We
see people from both countries doing trade better since the situations
went back to normal.”
About 3,700 Thai tourists visited Cambodia
in August, he added. Recently, more than 1,200 foreign nations per day
enter Cambodia at the checkpoint.
Russia's 27,410 visitors were
the largest group of international tourists to cross the boarder during
the period, for a 165-percent increase on 2010, Leak Romanea said.
Koreans were the second-biggest group, followed by visitors from the UK
and the US.
The Poipet international checkpoint was the most
popular of Cambodia’s land crossings and had great potential to connect
international tourists with the Kingdom, Ho Vandy, co-chairman of the
Tourism Working Group of the Government Private Sector Forum, said
yesterday.
“We have two popular overland crossings: Poipet and
Bavet. Both crossings increase the number of foreign tourists to
Cambodia every year,” he said.
Ho Vandy added he was especially
hopeful of a recovery of Thai tourist numbers as the two countries begin
to mend relations after months-long border tensions this year.
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