Cambodia continues to extend visa exemptions to aid economy: official

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia will continue to extend the visa-exemption program to four additional ASEAN member states despite the loss of revenue, local media reported on Monday, citing a tourism official.

Cambodian tourism officials last week announced the loss of more than 14 million U.S. dollars in revenue generated by tourists from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since January 2008, when the government adopted a visa-exemption agreement with five ASEAN countries .

According to a report by the Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia honored 278,842 visa exemptions in the first half of this year from travelers from Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam and Laos, which resulted in a loss of 5.5 million U.S. dollars in revenue, the Phnom Penh Post reported.

The report added that last year revenues declined by 8.6 million U.S. dollars after visa exemptions totaling 431,426 were issued to tourists from the same countries.

"We realize that our visa-exemption program for travelers from ASEAN countries results in lower national revenues, but we will continue it because increased arrivals can boost economic growth Kingdom-wide and will create many jobs for Cambodians," Thong Khon was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying.

He added that visa exemptions would be extended to all ASEAN countries by 2015.

"Next year, we will implement visa exemptions for Thailand, followed later by Indonesia, Brunei and Myanmar," Thong Khon said.

Cambodia agreed to its first visa-exemption program with Malaysia in the late 1990s, adding the Philippines, Singapore, Laos and Vietnam in subsequent years.

The Ministry of Tourism estimates that under the visa-exemption program, at least one million tourists from nine ASEAN countries will travel to Cambodia between 2010 and 2011. (PNA/Xinhua) ALM