Int'l tourists to Cambodia's Angkor expected to rebound from 2021 hinh anh 1The Angkor temple complex in Cambodia's Siem Reap province (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Phnom Penh (VNA) - Cambodia predicted that international visitors to its famous Angkor Archeological Park will start to rebound gradually from next year if COVID-19 vaccines are available, a spokesman of the Ministry of Tourism has said.

Top Sopheak forecast that China will remain the largest source of tourists to the Southeast Asian nation during the post-COVID-19 period.

The Angkor Archeological Park, Cambodia’s top tourist destination, has seen a huge slump in foreign tourists during the first nine months of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced the country to impose entry restrictions for all foreign travellers since March.

Located in northwest Siem Reap province, the world heritage site received 396,241 international visitors during the January-September period, down 76 percent over the same period last year, according to an Angkor Enterprise's report.

The ancient site got 18.45 million USD in revenue from ticket sales during the first nine months of the year, also down 75 percent year-on-year, the report said.

In September alone, the site received 2,948 foreigners earning 124,296 USD from ticket sales, down 97.3 percent and 97.4 percent, respectively compared to the same month last year, it said.

The spokesman said prior to the COVID-19, the site attracted around 9,000 foreign tourists a day, but currently, it receives about 70 a day and those are foreigners living and working in Cambodia./.
VNA