• Politics

Global Travel Agency Promises Visitor Boost

• By Meng Seavmey
• January 17, 2024 7:09 PM

PHNOM PENH – The global travel agency Trip.com has promised to bring more tourists to Cambodia, after the success of current cooperation.

Agency president Jane Sun said they want to cooperate further with their partners in Cambodia to attract more tourists to attractive destinations in the country.

Jane told Prime Minister Hun Manet of their plan on Jan. 16 at the World Economic Forum 2024 in Davos, Switzerland.

Hun Manet welcomed the agency’s expanded cooperation in the country, especially with local agencies.

This aligned with Cambodia’s strategy to revive the tourism sector after COVID, especially with the “Visit Siem Reap 2024” program aiming for visitors to stay longer and for more creative activities in Siem Reap and other tourism provinces.

In May last year, Cambodian Angkor Air signed a memorandum of understanding with the agency to create a smart airport in Siem Reap province through improved digital and intelligent services.

Trip.com focuses mainly on the tourism sector. Through its website, tourists can book flights, accommodation, and transport with details on more than 820 tourism destinations across Cambodia.

According to the Tourism Ministry’s November Statistics Report, 4.92 million foreign tourists visited Cambodia in the first 11 months of last year, which was nearly as good as in the pre-COVID-19 period. In 2019, 5.9 million international tourists arrived in the same period.

Sideline talks of tourism-related and energy sectors

On the same day, Mathias Cormann, the secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), said they will continue providing technical support in building national policies to become a higher-income country by 2050.

The PM thanked the organization for helping to review existing policies and create new ones, including trade and social protection policies.

The OECD is internationally recognized as a powerful publisher of economic data and annual evaluation and ranking of the 38 member countries.

In the geodata sector, the Prime Minister met John Serafini, the executive director of the HawEye 360 — a geospatial technology development company — to talk about a project in Cambodia called “geospatial information solution”.

After that, Shenzhen Power Solution’s founder Xia Li introduced the company’s products aimed at reducing expenditure on energy and promoting livelihoods in rural areas. The company makes solar-powered appliances that are affordable, helpful, and good for health.

In response, the Prime Minister welcomed the investment initiative and encouraged the company to cooperate with local companies for the new business model.

The online transportation company, Grab, also showed their commitment to boosting cooperation with local partners to improve transportation, logistics, tourism, and road safety sectors. The operation is an online taxi and tuk-tuk booking and digital payment platform.

Hun Manet said transport is an important sector in attracting and gathering informal operators, particularly transporters for digital development and modernization. Also, the operators must set an example by obeying traffic laws and maintaining road safety and comfort for clients.

In the agricultural sector, Kuok Khoon Hong, the chief executive officer of the Wilmar International Group, promised to seek investment opportunities for agricultural development in Cambodia.

The investments will be used for rice and sugarcane plantations with coverage on the whole productivity chain such as planting, harvesting, processing, packaging, and exporting.

Jared Cohen, head of global affairs of the Goldman Sachs Group, told the Prime Minister about their plan to expand their investment opportunities in banking and security in Cambodia.