Khmer New Year Tourism Tops Over 13 Million Visitors
Siem Reap, which hosted the 10th edition of Angkor Sankranta has been the most attractive province. Photo: Phat Dane
- By Torn Chanritheara
- April 17, 2023 6:09 PM
PHNOM PENH – More than 13 million people traveled during the Khmer New Year three-day long holiday, a report from the Tourism Ministry said on April 17.
It represents a significant rise compared to 2022 when 4.7 million people visited another province for the holiday.
Siem Reap, which hosted the 10th edition of Angkor Sankranta has been the most attractive province. A total of 2.1 million visitors have been recorded in the province, of which 13,373 were foreigners.
Battambang province came second with 1.5 million visitors and Kampong Cham, where 1.4 million tourists were recorded, was the country’s third most visited province.
Phnom Penh, which is traditionally empty during Khmer New Year’s celebrations, saw an unusual affluence with over 1 million people in the city, the Ministry reported.
With only 16,306 tourists, Koh Kong province ended up being the least visited area.
Other coastal provinces recorded a high number of tourists. Preah Sihanouk saw 887,893 visitors, of which 11,955 were foreigners. Kampot attracted 870,399 tourists (3,733 are foreigners) while 149,406 people visited Kep.
Altogether, a total of 13,187,771 people traveled during the Khmer New Year. Of them, 55,691 were foreigners.
The Ministry attributed this exceptionally high number of visitors to a strong and shared belief in herd immunity, following the control of the COVID-19 disease, which opened the gate to the organization of various entertaining events throughout the country.
Angkor Sangkranta in Siem Reap city was the biggest of them.
Two new world records were broken during the festivities: the largest display of origami hearts and the largest Madison dance.
