PHNOM PENH, July 10 (Xinhua) -- More than 1.1 million Chinese tourists had visited Cambodia in the first five months this year, an increase of 40 percent over the same period last year, said a report of Cambodian Tourism Ministry released Wednesday.
China remained the largest source of foreign visitors to the Southeast Asian country, accounting for 38 percent of the total foreign arrivals to the kingdom during the January-May period this year, the report said.
Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon said that China is a huge market for Cambodia's tourism industry.
"We hope to attract about 2.6 million Chinese tourists in 2019, 3 million in 2020, 5 million in 2025 and up to 8 million in 2030," he said.
According to the report, a total of 2.89 million international tourists had travelled to Cambodia during the first five months of this year, up 11.4 percent over the same period last year.
Tourism is one of four sectors supporting Cambodia's economy.
Last year, the country received 6.2 million foreign tourists including 2 million Chinese, earning gross revenue of 4.35 billion U.S. dollars, the minister said, adding that tourism contributed 12.7 percent to the country's gross domestic product.
Cambodia is famous for three world heritage sites, namely the Angkor archeological park, the Preah Vihear temple, and the Sambor Prei Kuk archeological site.
Besides, it has a pristine coastline in four southwestern provinces of Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk, Kampot and Kep.
