To curb the slowdown of foreign tourist arrivals in the Siem Reap province, the government has decided to increase the number of days that visitors can enter Angkor Archaeological Park with entrance passes.

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The announcement from the Ministry of Economy and Finance issued yesterday stated that the move was made amid the outbreak of Covid-19, causing foreign tourists to suspend or cancel their tours, particularly Chinese tourists. The ministry said those who buy single-day entrance passes can visit the world heritage site for up to two days and those who buy three-day entrance passes can visit up to five days.

 

With a seven-day entrance pass, foreign tourists can now visit up to 10 days. This has been implemented to promote the tourism sector and to attract more foreign tourists to continue their stay in Cambodia. While the tourism sector in the region and in Cambodia is affected from the outbreak of Covid-19. The changes will remain effective until June 25 this year, according to the ministry announcement.

 

read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50695234/angkor-entrance-passes-extended-in-another-urgent-measure-to-help-the-areas-declining-tourism

Cool. Ill be here till April.

And it's... gone.

 

Another "white elephant" is about to vanish, under our eyes.

 

But in that case... we should celebrate !

 

I first went to Angkor in 2001... It was paradise on earth.

 

Then 5 more times after... The last one in 2018... What a disaster... Those maniacs built huge "sale tickets buildings"... Disney... Buses everywhere... Chinese (of course)... Total chaos.

 

It would be a Walt Disney amusement park... nobody would care.

 

But this is a magnificient part of mankind history. Magnificient and so fragile.

 

The crushing of tourism is for that matter a blessing.

I went there for the first and only time in 1999, hired a motorbike driver for cheap and had many temples all to myself. Siem Riep was a backwater small village still - no nightlife, don't remember many paved roads, and of course no tourist infrastructure whatsoever. There was a guy sitting on a wooden chair on the side of the road collecting admission to the temples.

Have not been back since as I want to remember it as I had seen it then - peaceful and uncrowded.

It is still a nice place to visit, if you can afford the entry ticket.  I rented an electric bike a couple of years ago and had all the time in the world inside the park, taking a lot of pictures.  Friendly people everywhere, I did not experience any scams or tourist traps. 

7 hours ago, calbts2 said:

I went there for the first and only time in 1999, hired a motorbike driver for cheap and had many temples all to myself. Siem Riep was a backwater small village still - no nightlife, don't remember many paved roads, and of course no tourist infrastructure whatsoever. There was a guy sitting on a wooden chair on the side of the road collecting admission to the temples.

Have not been back since as I want to remember it as I had seen it then - peaceful and uncrowded.

No nightlife. But lots of brothels that were closed down a decade later. 

A blessing in disguise. Too much tourism to those temples is very harmful to some of the greatest archaeological achievements of mankind. I wish they would cut the admission price, rather than allow more days to visit. It is just too expensive to go there now, but again it is a blessing for the future damage over tourism will cause. Just like Thailand, Cambodia needs to look into other improving the economy through other sectors, rather than just tourism, so when things like this happens, they have other sectors to fall back on.

On 2/26/2020 at 2:49 AM, calbts2 said:

I went there for the first and only time in 1999, hired a motorbike driver for cheap and had many temples all to myself. Siem Riep was a backwater small village still - no nightlife, don't remember many paved roads, and of course no tourist infrastructure whatsoever. There was a guy sitting on a wooden chair on the side of the road collecting admission to the temples.

Have not been back since as I want to remember it as I had seen it then - peaceful and uncrowded.

About the time I did Si Satchanalai in Thailand. Not to the same scale of course, but an awesome experience made all the better by very few tourists. 

I like that.  I may be there after Mid April and when Thai Songkran is over.  A two day pass seems reasonable, as it gives a person the option of waiting out for the crowds, flexing ones' time, etc.

7 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

I like that.  I may be there after Mid April and when Thai Songkran is over.  A two day pass seems reasonable, as it gives a person the option of waiting out for the crowds, flexing ones' time, etc.

Better take the 3-day pass (which now gives you 5 days entrance).

It is impossible to see this amazing and huge complex in 2 days (Angkor Wat itself is the biggest temple, but by far not the most beautiful or interesting one).  That would be like doing the Louvre museum in 1.5 hour.

I have been 3 times on a 3-day pass and haven't seen everything yet, and the lesser known temples are often the most amazing ones as I discovered last time.

Also with the 3-day pass (now providing 5 days entrance) you can choose the days when you visit, so easy to combine with other activities or a swimming pool relax-day.

Enjoy this World Wonder while you still can, and now is the ideal time to do it without the hordes of chinese tour-buses that normally account for approx 2/3 of visitors.

 

It's still too expensive, went there last year and felt the entrance fee was better spent on 50c beers.

When they put the day price down to $10, I'll visit.

If it's worth a second visit, I'll pay another $10.

 

$40 1 day, $60 3 day, $70 7 day, just no.

Edited February 28, 20206 yr by BritManToo

22 hours ago, BritManToo said:

It's still too expensive, went there last year and felt the entrance fee was better spent on 50c beers.

When they put the day price down to $10, I'll visit.

If it's worth a second visit, I'll pay another $10.

 

$40 1 day, $60 3 day, $70 7 day, just no.

Each to his own.  But $62 for the 3-day pass (provides 5 days  now) although 'expensive' to cambodian standards (50c for a large beer) will never be an obstacle for me to visit the world's largest and most amazing temple complex.  Yes, enjoying a couple of good beers in the evening is nice and you surely need that after an 8 hour day of awe and wonder.

It is steep to be fair. Good work is being done there, but no doubt they are coining it in. $20 for couple/three days is more realistic. 

I'm with many of y'all. I'll return if the price drops, not the the amount of days to visit. Too much to pay. Pay a driver each day, pay for overpriced meals at the park each day, and other stuff that makes each day going to the park to be too much to pay, on the other hand, with the amount of Chinese tourists there being low, it is about time for a visit. Don't like large amounts of tourists and large amounts of Chinese tourists is even worse.

 

On 2/28/2020 at 12:02 PM, BritManToo said:

It's still too expensive, went there last year and felt the entrance fee was better spent on 50c beers.

When they put the day price down to $10, I'll visit.

If it's worth a second visit, I'll pay another $10.

 

$40 1 day, $60 3 day, $70 7 day, just no.

70 bucks for a week is cheap

On 3/3/2020 at 8:01 AM, daveAustin said:

It is steep to be fair. Good work is being done there, but no doubt they are coining it in. $20 for couple/three days is more realistic. 

For a world class attraction? They charge 60 bucks for a theme park

 

 

2 hours ago, UbonThani said:

For a world class attraction? They charge 60 bucks for a theme park

Not in a country where the wages are $100/month.

3 hours ago, UbonThani said:

70 bucks for a week is cheap

Pocket change. I may go buy a pass this week, Im just waiting for the few tourists left to leave. Its pretty dead so will be good for pictures.

 

The Khmers are just trying to squeeze a few bucks more out before the heat comes.

26 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Not in a country where the wages are $100/month.

Folks making $100 dont barely have disposable income to eat as opposed to even paying $1 for admission anywhere.

 

Ive heard that "Khmer people no need pay" anyway. I think thats unofficial, but prevalent.

Edited March 12, 20206 yr by Nyezhov