Cambodia welcomed over 2.4 million foreign visitors in the first sevenmonths of this year, up 22 percent against the same period last year,said the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism.
Vietnamsits at the top of the chart with over 508,000 visitors to Cambodia ,followed by the Republic of Korea , China and Laos .
In the same period, more than 500,000 Cambodians were recorded totravel abroad, a year-on-year increase of 11.9 percent. They mainlyvisited Thailand , Vietnam , Malaysia and Hong Kong .
Cambodia ’s tourism has become a spearhead economic sector, which enjoys a yearly average growth of 15-20 percent.
The nation received some 3.5 million foreign tourists last year,generating jobs for around 350,000 local people and contributing 12percent to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Cambodia expects to welcome 4 million foreign arrivals this year.
The Southeast Asian nation is well-known for its world heritage sites Angkor Wat and Preah Vihear temples.-VNA