The kingdoms of Cambodia and Thailand have joined hands to increase foreign and inter-ASEAN tourism under the \u2018Two Kingdoms, One Destination\u2019 tourism visa pact. Secretary of state at Cambodia\u2019s Ministry of Tourism Tith Chantha said Cambodia and Thailand have already created a single-visa option for tourists looking to explore both countries in one trip. \u201cNow, we\u2019re joining with Thailand to promote Two Kingdoms, One Destination. It will make it much easier for tourists who don\u2019t want to visit only one country during their trip,\u201d he said. \u201cThailand has a lot of airlines operating long-haul to Europe or the United States \u2013 we don\u2019t have many of those long flights, so we will benefit from this once the campaign kicks in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thailand\u2019s minister of tourism and sports, Kobkran Wattanakvrangkul, told the Bangkok Post that the campaign would run from 2015 to 2017. \u201cThe collaboration looks forward to exchanging foreign travellers and facilitating travel across both countries. The plan also promotes intra-ASEAN tourism,\u201d Kobkarn was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
The campaign will promote two major tourist routes; one running along the Gulf of Thailand\u2019s coastline through Bangkok, Rayong and Trat in Thailand to Koh Kong, Sihanoukville, Kampot and Phnom Penh in Cambodia; the other will also originate in Bangkok and end in Phnom Penh, but will go through further inland from Aranyaprathet in Thailand to Poipet, Battambang, and Siem Reap.<\/p>\n
Co-chair of the Government-Private Sector Working Group on Tourism Ho Vandy welcomed the initiative, saying that Cambodia had been cooperating with Thailand\u2019s tourism association since 2008. \u201cNow that this is being done on a governmental level, it will be a big boost because it will share benefits with both countries,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have observed that we got more than 30 per cent of [Cambodia\u2019s] tourists from Thailand since the promotion began.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tourist arrivals to Cambodia from Thailand were up 37 per cent to 71,572 visitors during the first quarter of 2015, ranking fifth, while Vietnamese tourists still ranked first followed by China, South Korea, and Laos, according to the Ministry of Tourism. The data showed that Cambodia welcomed some 1.3 million foreign tourists in the year\u2019s first quarter, a 3.1 per cent increase from the 1.267 million tourists in the same period last year.<\/p>\n
Last year, Cambodia received some 4.5 million foreign tourists, a 7 per cent increase from the year before. The arrivals generated about $3 billion worth of Cambodia\u2019s $15 billion GDP. The Ministry of Tourism projected that Cambodia would receive about 5 million foreign tourist arrivals this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The kingdoms of Cambodia and Thailand have joined hands to increase foreign and inter-ASEAN tourism under the \u2018Two Kingdoms, One Destination\u2019 tourism visa pact. Secretary of state at Cambodia\u2019s Ministry of Tourism Tith Chantha said Cambodia and Thailand have already created a single-visa option for tourists looking to explore both countries in one trip. \u201cNow, we\u2019re joining with Thailand to promote Two Kingdoms, One Destination. It will make it much easier for tourists who don\u2019t want to visit only one country during their trip,\u201d he said. \u201cThailand has a lot of airlines operating long-haul to Europe or the United States \u2013 we don\u2019t have many of those long flights, so we will benefit from this once the campaign kicks in.\u201d Thailand\u2019s minister of tourism and sports, Kobkran Wattanakvrangkul, told the Bangkok Post that the campaign would run from 2015 to 2017. \u201cThe collaboration looks forward to exchanging foreign travellers and facilitating travel across both countries. The plan also promotes intra-ASEAN tourism,\u201d Kobkarn was quoted as saying. The campaign will promote two major tourist routes; one running along the Gulf of Thailand\u2019s coastline through Bangkok, Rayong and Trat in Thailand to Koh Kong, Sihanoukville, Kampot and Phnom Penh in Cambodia; the other will also originate in Bangkok and end in Phnom Penh, but will go through further inland from Aranyaprathet in Thailand to Poipet, Battambang, and Siem Reap. Co-chair of the Government-Private Sector Working Group on Tourism Ho Vandy welcomed the initiative, saying that Cambodia had been cooperating with Thailand\u2019s tourism association since 2008. \u201cNow that this is being done on a governmental level, it will be a big boost because it will share benefits with both countries,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have observed that we got more than 30 per cent of [Cambodia\u2019s] tourists from Thailand since the promotion began.\u201d Tourist arrivals to Cambodia from Thailand were up 37 per cent to 71,572 visitors during the first quarter of 2015, ranking fifth, while Vietnamese tourists still ranked first followed by China, South Korea, and Laos, according to the Ministry of Tourism. The data showed that Cambodia welcomed some 1.3 million foreign tourists in the year\u2019s first quarter, a 3.1 per cent increase from the 1.267 million tourists in the same period last year. Last year, Cambodia received some 4.5 million foreign tourists, a 7 per cent increase from the year before. The arrivals generated about $3 billion worth of Cambodia\u2019s $15 billion GDP. The Ministry of Tourism projected that Cambodia would receive about 5 million foreign tourist arrivals this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[284,912,927],"tags":[1676,1677,1015],"yoast_head":"\n