Cambodia’s three international airports handled a total of 24,725 domestic and international flights in the first half (H1) of 2023, falling short of officials’ expectations despite representing a commendable 147.67 per cent rise from the same period last year, according to State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) undersecretary of state Sinn Chanserey Vutha on July 10.

These flights carried 2,480,032 passengers and 24,616 tonnes of cargo, which were respectively up 269.96 per cent and down 17.86 per cent compared to January-June 2022, SSCA statistics provided to The Post by Chanserey Vutha showed.

The three establishments in question are Phnom Penh International Airport, Siem Reap International Airport and Sihanouk International Airport, the last of which is also known as “Kang Keng”.

Chanserey Vutha, who doubles as the SSCA’s official spokesman, argued that adverse regional and global political and economic circumstances prevented the year-on-year surge in flights from reaching the levels expected by authorities, but he remained optimistic that the increase would be greatly beneficial for the people as well as the Kingdom’s economic growth.

He voiced some dissatisfaction with the pace of new flights and the size of the gap between pre- and post-Covid-19 totals, but nonetheless predicted “positive signs” in the meantime, noting that the Ministry of Tourism anticipates 4.5 million international visitors to the Kingdom in 2023.

In mid-May, Chanserey Vutha made the bold prediction that the overall volume of inbound passengers in 2024 would be roughly equal to that of 2019.

For reference, tourism ministry figures show that 146,767 international visitors flew into Cambodia in May, which is 42.80 per cent of the 342,877 recorded for the corresponding month of 2019. This proportion is up from 40.44 per cent in April.

While the June 2023 Tourism Statistics Report has not yet been released, early data suggests that this ratio might have fallen to somewhere between 37.07 and 40.06 per cent last month – although it could be as high as 41.552 per cent if figures were rounded down rather than to the nearest value, which is a common practice in the Kingdom.

Overall, Cambodia received 2.57 million international visitors in the first half of the year, equivalent to 77 per cent of the 3.34 million logged in the same period of 2019. Land, air and water modes of transportation made up 1.63 million, 0.91 million and 0.03 million of that, versus 0.90 million, 2.35 million and 0.09 million in January-June 2019, according to the ministry.

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.

Logistics and Supply Chain Business Association in Cambodia president Chea Chandara hailed the uptick in flights as a positive development for the tourism sector and overall economy.

“The rise in flights signals that more tourists and investors are visiting Cambodia, which bodes well for the country’s economic recovery,” he said, stating that travel by air, land and water have all increased in tandem with countries reopening to tourism, especially since the beginning of the year.

Explaining the one-sixth year-on-year decrease in air cargo volumes, Chandara speculated that this may be due to a shift away from aviation to more affordable choices for shipping goods, in response to unfavourable global economic conditions.