Cambodia attracted about 1.83 million visitors from other ASEAN member countries last year, up 21 percent from 1.51 million in 2012.

The ASEAN visitors to Cambodia represented 43 percent of the total 4.2 million foreign travelers to the country last year, Xinhua news agency said, quoting Cambodian Ministry of Tourism statistics.

Among the 10-member bloc, Vietnamese visitors to Cambodia last year topped the charts with 854,100, followed by Laos with 414,530 and Thailand with 221,260.

Malaysia and the Philippines came at fourth and fifth with 130,700 and 119,000 respectively, it said.

In addition, some 57,800 Singaporeans, 28,200 Indonesians, 5,100 Myanmar nationals, and 814 Brunei people came to Cambodia last year.

Ang Kim Eang, president of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, which represents 220 tour and travel companies, said the growth of ASEAN travellers to Cambodia was thanks to the good connectivity between Cambodia and other Southeast Asian nations by both air and land.

Besides, visa exemption agreements between Cambodia and other ASEAN member states have also encouraged people from ASEAN to visit Cambodia, a country with a lot of attractive tourist destinations, he said.

Cambodia has two world heritage sites. One is the 12th century Angkor Wat Temple in northwestern Siem Reap province and the other is the 11th century Preah Vihear Temple in northwestern Preah Vihear province.

It also boasts pristine coastline stretching 450km through the southwestern provinces of Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk, Kampot and Kep.-VNA