A tourist site in Siem Reap, Cambodia before the COVID-19 breaks out. (Photo: shutterstock.com) Phnom Penh (VNA) – The French government, throughthe French Agency for Development (AFD), has provided a grant of 1.5 millionEUR (1.7 million USD) to help restore Cambodia’s post-pandemic tourism sector,according to the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism.
Cambodia’s tourism sector has been severely affected during the COVID-19 outbreak due to the loss of foreign visitors as a result of the suspensionof flights from many countries, Khmer Times reported.
The ministry estimated that as of May, around 2,956tourism-related businesses in Cambodia have been closed, leaving a further 45,405people unemployed.
Nep Samuth, General Director of Tourism Industry andSecretary-General of the National Committee for Clean Cities Assessment of theMinistry of Tourism, confirmed that AFD has agreed to provide 1.5 million EURin funding under the Tourism Capacity Building Project 2020-2023 to participatein the rehabilitation of tourism inCambodia after the pandemic.
According to Samuth, the two sides have exchanged views onthe introduction of measures to support Cambodia’s tourism sector in the periodof COVID-19 and starting from the implementation of tourism safety measures,promoting domestic tourism movement to ensure that Cambodia is a quality andwarm tourism destination for visitors.
The fund will be used for 24 development projects toparticipate in the recovery plan during and after the pandemic, includingstrengthening the governance of the tourism sector, which will provide capacity building to strengthen the private sector in the tourism industry, enhancing the institutional capacity and public-private partnerships, and supporting the promotion of ecotourism./.
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