Attendees hold up signs promoting the Kingdom at the Cambodian booth of the Seoul International Travel Fair on May 4. TOURISM MINISTRY
The Ministry of Tourism announced that it is leading a delegation of “more than 10” private companies to attend the 38th edition of the Seoul International Travel Fair from May 4-7 in the South Korean capital.
“Some 500 firms from around the world” are expected to be represented at the fair, attended by Korean travel-related businesses, vendors and traders, as well as national and international journalists, the ministry said in a May 4 statement, noting that the trip comes in collaboration with its Korean counterpart and the Cambodian embassy there.
In conjunction with the event, the ministry also organised another edition of the “Cambodia Tourism Roadshow” on May 4, which was attended by “more than 100” Korean travel-aligned businesses, the statement noted.
At the fair, the delegation seeks to promote Cambodia as a “warm, safe, clean and green” tourist destination where the slogan “Every day is a miracle” holds true, with a focus on forging connections with Cambodians living in South Korea through sport and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) initiatives.
The statement linked the trip to a 2020-2025 plan for post-Covid-19 tourism recovery in Cambodia, as well as the “Visit Cambodia Year 2023” campaign which encompasses a sport tourism push underpinned by the Kingdom’s hosting of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and ASEAN Para Games.
It also pointed out that Cambodia is set to host the 2029 edition of the quadrennial Asian Youth Games – after Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 2025.
Meanwhile, the ministry recapped that Cambodia welcomed 64,040 Korean visitors in 2022, surging 954.33 per cent from the previous year’s 6,074, and ending a trend of eight consecutive years of declines since an all-time high in 2013.
Still, this figure was down 74.87 per cent from the 254,874 tallied in 2019, and down 85.28 per cent from the record 435,009 logged in 2013.
Although a target of 80,000 Korean visitors had been set some time ago for full-year 2023, the ministry reported the number for the January-March quarter at 52,578, which was up 1,115.40 per cent year-on-year from 4,326 and up 90.25 per cent quarter-on-quarter from 27,636.
Historically, the first quarter has accounted for an average of 36.4782 per cent of the full-year total of Korean visitors – using the 2006-2019 period as the reference point – offering a rough estimate of 144,000 for the full-year 2023 figure.
However, it should be noted that this estimate does not factor in potential gains attributable to post-Covid recovery, pent-up travel demand, the SEA Games, other major events, or this year’s tourism initiatives.
A visitor in the context of these statistics is a person travelling to the Kingdom, “staying at least overnight and not exceeding a specific period for leisure, recreation, business and other legal tourism purposes; and not relevant to the purpose of permanent residence or any remunerated activities”, as defined by the ministry.
