A ceremony celebrating the second annual Travel Mart in Cambodia was held at NagaWorld in Phnom Penh on Friday, featuring speeches from the tourism minister and event organisers that lauded the expanded networking event. The mart, set to be held in October, will feature 3,000 participants and 80 international companies, according to a press release.

Om Pharin, CEO of Slickbooth Holding and a co-organiser of the mart, said the tourism-oriented networking event would benefit the private sector. “Companies can profit . . . and so [will] tourism, as this drives more people to visit the region,” he said.

So Mara, a secretary of state at the Tourism Ministry, said this year’s Travel Mart will be about 25 percent bigger than it was last year, and credited the rise in tourists visiting Cambodia to “peace and stability”, a common refrain of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

“I think Cambodia will become a new transport destination in the future, because we offer peace and stability under the leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen,” he said. “If we don’t have peace, how can we grow?”