The Kingdom expects to receive more tourists from Vietnam after national carrier Cambodia Angkor Air announced a direct flight to the coastal Vietnamese city of Danang last week.

“Direct flights allow us greater opportunities to attract more tourists from Vietnam to Cambodia because travel is an important sector like accommodation, food and other services,” World Express Tours & Travel managing director Hor Vandy told The Post.

Already, Vietnamese tourists accounted for 12.8 per cent of the 4.3 million people who visited Cambodia last year – making them the Kingdom’s second-highest nationality to visit, official figures from the Ministry of Tourism said.

Vandy said since Vietnam receives a large number of international tourists, it’s only natural that the new route would increase the number of visitors arriving in the Kingdom’.

“Establishing direct routes, regardless of which country, helps to increase the flow of tourists, which heralds tourism growth and ultimately, national revenue,” he said.

Vandy said Cambodia and Vietnam already have regular routes connecting Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville cities with Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Danang cities and that there were also several charter flights available for guests.

It will only take about an hour and 10 minutes to fly from Danang directly to Phnom Penh with Cambodia Angkor Air.

Cambodia Association of Travel Agents president Chhay Sivlin said visitors from Danang would previously have to catch a connecting flight through Ho Chi Minh, which took longer and cost more.

Sivlin expressed hope that the success of the route would result in connections between Danang and other Cambodian destinations outside of Phnom Penh.

“There will be an increase in the number of tourists travelling from Vietnam to Cambodia, and hopefully [the flight] will attract other foreign tourists who pass through Danang to Cambodia,” she said.

She also expressed a desire that direct flights from Danang to Cambodian destinations other than Phnom Penh would be established.

The Kingdom welcomed nearly 560,000 Vietnamese guests in the first eight months of this year, – an increase of 6.3 per cent when compared to the same period last year, a Ministry of Tourism report said.

As of September, Cambodia had a total of 49 operating airlines flying to 86 destinations in 12 countries, the report said.