Chinese passengers arrive at Phnom Penh International Airport in February. Heng Chivoan
Five Chinese airlines with operations in Cambodia have reached out to the General Department of Taxation (GDT) to explain some of the tax-related challenges facing the aviation industry and learn more about their obligations as taxpayers, according to a GDT statement.
A meeting was held to this end in the capital last week, between GDT director for enterprise audit Te Jeudi and a delegation comprising representatives of the Chinese airlines, namely national flag carrier Air China Ltd, China Eastern Airlines Co Ltd, China Southern Airlines Co Ltd, Shenzhen Airlines Co Ltd and Xiamen Airlines Co Ltd, the statement said.
Jeudi stated that the GDT would designate “representatives” to collaborate with the five airlines to foster closer cooperation and ensure the smooth and successful operation of Cambodia’s civil aviation industry.
Liu Yangfu, Air China Ltd’s local tax boss and head of the delegation, thanked the GDT for its prior assistance, and expressed hope to work more closely with the department in the future, according to the statement.
Thiem Thoeung, president of the Siem Reap-based Cambodia Chinese Tour Guide Association, told The Post that international flights and tourists remain below pre-Covid-19 levels, despite travel being essentially as unrestricted as it had been before the pandemic.
This is especially evident among Chinese sightseers who, until 2020, played an “important role” in the Kingdom’s tourism sector, he added, noting that many Chinese residents are seeing a decline in income.
“After practically disappearing between 2020 and 2022, we tour guides genuinely want to see more foreign holidaymakers return to Cambodia, so that we may once again earn a living. Even if there aren’t many foreign tourists right now, we’ll nevertheless make an effort to draw them in,” he said with resolve.
Thoeung claimed that most of the foreign visitors to Siem Reap province’s historic temples and the Kingdom’s other outdoor leisure travel spots known locally as “romeak’ni-yakthan” are from neighbouring countries who arrived overland.
The Ministry of Tourism reported that Cambodia welcomed 1,721,668 international visitors in the first four months of 2023, primarily from the region, equivalent to a more than seven-fold jump from 241,485 in January-April 2022.
In particular, this is 71.28 per cent of the 2,415,509 registered during the same time in 2019.
Thailand accounted for the most visitors at 570,021, which was up 348.54 per cent from the 127,085 recorded during the same period of 2019, followed by Vietnam (289,643; +9.00%; 265,728), mainland China (184,009; -79.26%; 887,039) and Laos (80,538; -48.02%; 154,943).
Next on the list were: the US (69,211; -29.03%; 97,526), South Korea (64,098; -42.28%; 111,044), France (41,811; -41.60%; 71,589), Indonesia (40,411; +90.23%; 21,243), the UK (39,994; -44.77%; 72,410) and Russia (39,569; +40.38; 28,188).
Most visitors entered the Kingdom overland, at 1,065,566 or 61.56 per cent more than the 659,561 tallied in January-April 2019. Arrivals by air and waterways stood at 634,028 and 22,074, respectively down 62.17 per cent and down 72.37 per cent from 1,676,058 and 79,890 in the corresponding 2019 period.
April made up 24.98 per cent of the four-month total at 430,129, which was down 20.00 per cent from the 537,656 in April 2019 and down 5.28 per cent from the 454,093 in March 2023. Thais also represented the lion’s share of visitors that month at 145,780 or 33.89 per cent.
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.
