1.83 M ASEAN tourists travel to Cambodia in 2013

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) - Cambodia attracted about 1.83 million visitors from its ASEAN member countries last year, up 21 percent from 1.51 million in a year earlier, a report of the Ministry of Tourism showed today.

The ASEAN visitors to Cambodia represented 43 percent of the total 4.2 million foreign travelers to the country last year, the report said.

Among the ten-country bloc, Vietnamese visitors to Cambodia last year topped the chart with its 854,100 citizens, followed by Laos with 414,530 and Thailand with 221,260.

Malaysia and the Philippines came at fourth and fifth with 130, 700 tourists and 119,000 respectively, it said.

In addition, some 57,800 Singaporeans, 28,200 Indonesians, 5, 100 Myanmar nationals, and 814 Brunei citizens had come to Cambodia last year.

Ang Kim Eang, president of Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, which represents 220 tour and travel companies, said the growth of ASEAN travelers to Cambodia was thanks to good connectivity between Cambodia and those ASEAN member states by both air and land.

"Visa exemption agreements between Cambodia and those ASEAN member states are also an encouragement for ASEAN peoples to visit Cambodia," he told Xinhua Sunday, adding that currently, peoples from ASEAN countries are granted visa-free to travel to Cambodia.

"Moreover, Cambodia has a lot of attractive tourist destinations," he said.

The country has two world heritage sites. One is the 12th century Angkor Wat Temple in northwestern Siem Reap province and the other is the 11th century Preah Vihear Temple in northwestern Preah Vihear province.

Besides, it has a pristine coastline, which is one of the World 's most beautiful bays. It stretches in the length of 450 km in four southwestern provinces of Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk, Kampot and Kep.