Cambodia receives 3.6 mln overseas tourists in 10 months

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia welcomed 3.6 million overseas tourists in the first 10 months of 2014, up 6 percent compared to the same period last year, a tourism official said on Wednesday.

Kong Sopheareak, chief of the statistics and planning department at the Ministry of Tourism, said the top three economies visited Cambodia are Vietnam, China and South Korea.

During the January-October period this year, some 630,000 Vietnamese toured Cambodia, down 3 percent year-on-year as the number of Chinese tourists to the country exceeded 440,000, up 19 percent.

"In general, the growth of foreign tourists to Cambodia this year is slow due to political troubles in neighboring Thailand early this year and tourists' concern over the Ebola outbreaks," he said.

Cambodia is famed for two cultural sites in the World Heritage List, including the 12th century Angkor Wat Temple and the 11th century Preah Vihear Temple.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, the country received 4.2 million inbound tourists last year, generating a revenue of around 2.5 billion U.S. dollars.

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