Epidemic cost Cambodia $ 3 billion in tourism revenue by 2020

Cambodia will lose about $ 3 billion in tourism revenue by 2020. This is according to HE Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism, in a meeting between the Ministry of Tourism and the Seventh Committee of the National Assembly on the morning of August 13.

HE Thong Khon confirmed that the loss of revenue from tourism is due to the decline in tourists, especially international tourists. According to the Minister of Tourism, by 2020, international tourists could fall to around 80 percent and domestic tourists to around 50 percent.

According to a report by the Ministry of Tourism, in the first six months of 2020, Cambodia had only 1.18 million international tourists. That number is down 64.6 percent from the same period in 2019. The drop in the number of tourists due to the crisis of epidemic has closed more than 3,000 tourism businesses and lost 50,000 jobs directly in early August only.

H.E Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism, during a meeting between the Ministry of Tourism and the Seventh Committee of the National Assembly at the National Assembly building on the morning of August 13.

Speaking at a meeting to review the implementation of legal standards for the implementation of tourism safety measures, the first phase for the epidemic crisis and the implementation plan at Phnom Penh Capital Hall on June 29, 2020, the Minister of Tourism affirmed the impact of the global epidemic. This will make Cambodia's tourism sector lag behind in five years.

He added that for 2020, Cambodia can receive only about 2 million international visitors, while before the epidemic crisis, Cambodia is expected to receive more than 7 million tourists. According to HE Thong Khon, the number of tourists lost due to the epidemic will recover by 2.5 million in 2021 if the epidemic ceases or the world can prevent the disease by December 2020 or early 2021.

HE said: "The plan that we think will receive 7 million tourists in 2020, until 2025, we can get this amount."

Prior to the global crisis, Cambodia received 6.61 million international tourists and received nearly $ 5 billion in tourism revenue, which was injected into the national economy in 2019. This revenue contributes about 13% of gross domestic product (GDP).

For 2020, HE Thong Khon had expected that Cambodia will receive more than 5 billion dollars from more than 7 million tourists and about 10 billion dollars for 2030 from 15 million international tourists.(This news came from Thmey Thmey.com)