Siem Reap, the popular tourist city of Cambodia that hosts the ancient temples of Angkor, has been named the top tourist destination in Southeast Asia by Germany-based online travel platform YouDiscover.
This follows last years award from the global tourism portal, TripAdvisor, whose users named Angkor Wat in Cambodia is the #1 landmark in the world for the second consecutive year.
Tourism to Cambodia has been surging with last years growth reported at 11% bolstered by a 70% increase in visitors from China. Cambodia’s Tourism Minister, Thong Khon, recently stated that by 2020 they forecast 3 million Chinese tourists a year with the total number of international tourists reaching 7 million.
As for Siem Reap and the Angkor Archeological Park, Angkor Enterprise reports that there have been almost one million visitors to the park in the first four months of this year.
Invest is also coming into the region with the recent announcement of a Wildlife Park and Aquarium funded by a consortium of investors from Cambodia, Japan, and the United States which is set to start construction this May near the Tonle Sap.