Cambodia to lose bt40bln income

• Published: 10/11/2009 at 11:26 AM

Cambodia stands a chance of losing about 30-40 billion baht in tourism income as the latest conflict with Thailand has driven Thai and foreign tourists away, Apichart Sangka-aree, an advisor to the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), said on Tuesday.

“On the tourism front, Cambodia will face stronger negative impact from the ongoing dispute than Thailand. European tourists now have refrained from visiting Cambodia’s Angkor Wat and visited the Northeast of Thailand which has similar culture and tourist attractions instead”, Mr Apichart said.

Charoen Wang-ananont, chairman of the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA), took the same tone, saying 95 per cent of Thai tourists who had booked tour packages to Cambodia in advance now have cancelled or delayed their visiting plans.

“We found that 20 per cent of them changed their destinations to Laos and another 10 per cent to Burma”, Mr Charoen said. The tourist attractions that coincidently gained benefits from the conflict included Luang Phrabang, Vientiane, Savannakhet, and Jampasak.

More than 600, 000 Thais visited the neighbouring country each year and they spent about 7,000 baht each, while only 60,000 Cambodian traveled to Thailand annually, according to TTAA chairman.