PHNOM PENH: Cambodia hopes to attract some 700,000 Vietnamese tourists next year and raise it to one million tourists by 2024, as both countries agree to further strengthen and expand tourism cooperation.
Cambodia has already seen more than 230,000 Vietnamese tourists visiting the country so far this year.
In a recent meeting between Cambodia Tourism Minister Thong Khon and Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Nguyen Huy Tang, they agreed to promote better waterway connectivity, especially from the tourist port in Koh Tral, Vietnam, to the tourist port in Kampot province, Cambodia.
According to the Khmer Times, Kong said that while the world had not yet recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic and the global economic situation remaining uncertain, promoting tourism with neighbouring or regional countries was of utmost importance.
"So Cambodia and Vietnam need to step up their efforts to further their cooperation in tourism to promote mutual tourism movement by land, air and water."
He pointed out that both sides have pushed for better flight connections between a number of tourist destinations, including Siem Reap - Koh Tral, Sihanoukville - Halong, Siem Reap - Haiphong and Siem Reap - Can Tho.
The two sides have also agreed to promote self-driving tourism through both countries and then to third countries.
Kong urged the Vietnamese side to continue providing scholarships for training and human resource development in the tourism sector to meet the demand for employment in the highly lucrative sector.
In the past, Vietnam had provided scholarships and short courses to Cambodian students or trainees to study tourism-related subjects.
The two countries have also agreed to increase business exchanges and visits between the public and private sectors, especially those related to tourism.
Additionally, both sides will encourage holding more tourism events together to promote the countries.
Ministry of Tourism spokesman Top Sopheak told Khmer Times that the country's tourism sector was currently in a recovery phase since the government reopened the nation's borders in November 2021.
The Ministry is also encouraging more domestic tourists by promoting the main tourist destinations in the country, while for international tourists, the momentum of travel still remains limited.
He said neighbouring markets such as Vietnam, Thailand, Laos were important markets for tourists to subsequently visit Cambodia.
To make it easier for tourists to visit Cambodia, he added that the government had removed unnecessary barriers, such as PCR testing, rapid test, and vaccination cards for tourists.
Meanwhile, the Vn Express reports that Nha Trang, a popular beach resort town in central Vietnam, hopes to attract more tourists from Kazakhstan and Russia on tour packages.Authorities there plan to start the tours later this month to boost its year-end tourism and efforts are underway to organise charter flights from Kazakhstan, Russia and some countries in Eastern Europe.
According to the report, there would be two weekly charter flights departing from Almaty International Airport in Kazakhstan to Cam Ranh International Airport, around 40 km from Nha Trang beach resort town.
Many Russian tourists bound for Vietnam would transit in Kazakhstan and board these charter flights to Nha Trang as direct flights from Russia to Vietnam have not yet resumed, after being suspended due to the conflict in Ukraine.
Currently, Russian tourists only come to Vietnam in small groups. They have to transit in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan before taking a flight to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City.
Each flight is expected to bring in between 180 and 200 tourists, who would stay at three to five star resorts in Nha Trang, with their stays ranging from one week to 28 days.
Amid the shortage of Russian tourists due to political tensions, there will be more efforts to tap into this new travel market.
There are numerous similarities between the Russian and Kazakhstan markets as tourists from the latter take long-term vacations during the winter season, which starts in October.
Nguyen Thi Le Thanh, director of Khanh Hoa's Department of Tourism, said the start of these charter flights to Nha Trang will help diversify the international tourism sector in the absence of Chinese and Russian visitors, who were Vietnam's biggest groups of tourists before the pandemic.
In the first nine months of this year, Nha Trang had welcomed 6,700 Russian tourists, accounting for just more than four per cent of total foreign arrivals.
Vietnam is one of the five most popular travel destinations for Russians for the New Year holiday, according to data from Russian travel site OneTwoTrip, based on customer bookings with departures between Dec 31 and Jan 8, 2023.