A senior Ministry of Tourism official expects that this year’s Sea Festival, scheduled to take place in Sihanoukville from December 9-12, will attract many tourists.

Ministry spokesman Top Sopheak said that this year, the festival is unique as there will be three major events: Traditional arts performances, Cambodian product and food exhibition, and beach and water sports competitions.

“We have prepared for this Sea Festival to be successful with a large number of people attending. First, we focus on the preparation for the three major coinciding events. In addition to that, we are prepared to arrange the town for greater beauty and order and better safety and services during the festival,” he said.

Sopheak noted that this year’s Sea Festival is a little different from last year because there is yet another big event called the World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club Conference.

Cambodia is set to host the World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club Conference for six days from December 9-14 and the Sea Festival on December 9-12.

Chhay Sivlin, president of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, said the Sea Festival will help the tourism sector with promotions and pump much-needed money into the tourism-related businesses while attracting more foreign tourists.

“I think there are domestic and foreign tourists as well as the people coming for just the exhibitions and sports performances. Domestic participants can also celebrate too, especially as the country has fully reopened. And now we also have the expressway so traffic is not so heavy for travellers and it takes them only two hours to get to Sihanoukville,” she said.

She added that Cambodia has ancient temples, beautiful beaches and a unique culture along its coastal areas and there are also many ecotourism sites as well as friendly, gentle and honest Cambodians running service businesses with great hospitality.