Kingdom, Henan province agree to increase tourism traffic

The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) and Henan Provincial Administration signed an agreement on Monday to strengthen people-to-people connectivity between the two nations to boost tourist flow with Henan province, which is home to many heritage sites including the ruins of Shang dynasty city and the Shaolin Temple.

Sok Soken, Minister of Tourism, held a meeting with the Chinese delegation led by Sun Shugang, Member of the Standing Committee of the Henan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Executive Vice-Governor of the People’s Government of Henan Province, in Phnom Penh.

Soken said that the presence of the Henan delegation today proved their high attention as well as the fruitful relationship between the two countries which coincided with the Cambodia-China People-to-People Exchange Year 2024 and the action plan for building a common destiny of Cambodia and China in the new era of 2024-2028.

“Under the Diamond Cooperation framework, Cambodia and China have set six safety belts and the people-to-people connectivity is among the priority objectives,” he said.

“Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Kingdom received about 6.6 million international tourists in 2016 and among that 2.4 million were Chinese tourists, accounting for around 36 percent of the total number recorded.”

He added that last year, the country welcomed 5.4 million tourists, an increase of 82 percent compared to the period during the Covid-19 crisis. Meanwhile, Chinese tourists recorded over half a million people which is about 540,000 last year.

Sun said that Cambodia is a loyal friend of China and has always supported Chinese policy and its commitment to supporting the implementation of strategic measures and actions that are put in place to restore tourism in the Kingdom.

During the meeting, Soken and Sun signed the minutes of the meeting, focusing on promoting the implementation of the project ‘Strengthening Cambodia-Henan-ASEAN Cooperation’, the Silk Road project while agreeing to set up the working group to effectively implement the minutes of the above meeting aimed at supporting the development of tourism industry in the two countries.

The Tourism Minister took the opportunity to appreciate the Henan Deputy Governor for the collaboration with Siem Reap Provincial Administration co-host the ‘When Shaolin Meets Bokator at Angkor’ event that is scheduled to be held on April 24 along with the ‘Cambodia-China Cultural Tourism Exhibition’.

According to the MoT press release, the two events aim to jointly promote tourism between Siem Reap province and Henan province, featuring joint performances between Shaolin and Bokator experts.

The event is expected to have more than 500 attendants, including high-ranking Cambodian and Chinese officials, members from tourism associations, martial arts performers, other relevant institutions and the general public, the statement added.