BANGKOK,
14 June 2012: Tourists from Thailand to Cambodia skyrocketed almost
triple during April; raising Thailand to fourth place on the top source
country list.
Cambodia’s Statistics and Tourism Information
Department at the Tourism Ministry reported tourist arrivals from
Thailand skyrocketed 165.2% during April from 7,987 to 21,178.
April
had various holidays such as the Songkran holiday, a long holiday to
celebrate Thai New Year and earlier in the month the Coronation Day
holiday.
Together
they represented golden travel weeks for tourism. Another important
factor was the improvement of diplomatic relations with Cambodia after
the Yingluck government took office.
Tourists from Thailand have
rebounded with visits improving 64% during the first three months of
this year moving the Thai market to seventh place, up from the eighth at
the end of 2011.
Overall, Cambodia welcomed 277,304 during April,
an increase of 24.3%. Looking at January to April figures, the growth
slowed down slightly compared to the first quarter bringing the average
growth down from 27.8% to 27.1%. The accumulated arrivals were
1,272.514.
Besides Thailand that was recorded a drastic
improvement in April, arrivals from the neighbouring Laos and the
Philippines also showed impressive increases, 69.8% and 60.4%
respectively.
Laos is the same as Thailand having its traditional
New Year celebration in April. As for the Philippines, the inauguration
of the first air link between the two countries (Manila-Siem Reap) 19
April by Cebu Pacific largely contributed to the growth and the annual
Easter holiday peak. Cebu Pacific uses a 180-seat A319 aircraft flying
three times a week.
The Top three suppliers — Vietnam, South Korea
and China still grew substantially by around 30%. However, There were a
couple of the top 10 markets showing declines: US (-2.4%) and Japan
(-4.5%).
The surge in trips from neighbouring countries was also
reflected in a rise of arrivals by land. In April, arrivals via overland
checkpoints accounted for 53.1% (147,325), while arrivals by air, 45.5%
(126,282). Data showed that 26.1% of people travelling by air landed in
Siem Reap while 19.4% landed in Phnom Penh.
In terms of regions,
Asia and the Pacific recorded the strongest growth of 32% (212,038)
followed by the Middle East, 20.6% (666); Europe, 6.8% (45,321); the
Americas, 0.2% (18,865) and Africa, -30.4% (373).
Several
countries in Europe reported declines, including the UK that dipped
2.4%. France and Germany recorded small improvement, 6% and 3%
respectively.
The overall growth of 6.8% was largely due to the growth of the Russian market at 34.7%.
Siem
Reap welcomed 179,778 tourists, or 64.8% of the total, improving 38.3%.
Meanwhile, Phnom Penh and other destinations tallied 97,526 tourists
with a small improvement of 4.8% over the same period in 2011.
Trips by Cambodians reached 70,738, a 35.7% rise over the same month last year.
Top 10 Arrivals in April 2012
Top 10 Arrivals during January to April 2012
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