COVID-19 wreaks havoc on Cambodia’s tourism industry
The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on Cambodia’s tourism industry, with nearly 3,000 tourism and tourism-related businesses closing and more than 45,000 workers losing jobs as of May.
A tourist site in Siem Reap, Cambodia (Photo: shutterstock.com)
PhnomPenh (VNA) – The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on Cambodia’stourism industry, with nearly 3,000 tourism and tourism-related businesses closingand more than 45,000 workers losing jobs as of May.
Cambodia is one of the Southeast Asian countries that strictlyenforce restrictions on foreign arrivals to prevent the spread of the disease. However, this has led to increased unemployment and debt burden, seriouslyaffecting socio-economic development. Cambodia's Ministry of Tourism forecastthat the local tourism industry will lose 3 billion USD this year.
Accordingto Cambodia’s regulations, all foreigners entering Cambodia must have a 3,000 USD deposit onarrival, medical insurance of at least 50,000 USD, and a healthcertificate declaring they are free of COVID-19
President of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents Chhay Sivlin hasexpressed her concern regarding the entry requirements and called on thegovernment to ease the travel restrictions.
“Businesses would not survive if they remain in place,” she said.
According to Cambodian Tourism Minister ThongKhon, the local tourism sector has seen some positive signs. During the firstthree weeks of June, more than 450,000 tourists visited Cambodia – an increaseof 7.24 percent compared to the first three weeks of May.
However, President of the Asia-Pacific Travel Association Thoun Sinan saidthat the Cambodian tourism still depends heavily on international tourists andonly domestic holidaymakers cannot save this industry. If the pandemic ends atthe end of this year, the sector will recover by 20 percent and can only fullyrecover by 2025, he forecast./.
Cambodia and Thailand have discussed the possibility to reopen international border gates to lift the economic deadlock caused by travel restriction measures to curb the COVID-19 spread.
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Cambodia earned over 264 million USD from exporting 397,660 tonnes of rice in the first half of 2020, up 41 percent against the same period in 2019, according to the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF).
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A tourist site in Siem Reap, Cambodia (Photo: shutterstock.com) 
