Thailand
Cambodia’s airports ready for tourists, air bridges, travel bubbles by ‘end of 2021’
Cambodia’s tourism industry is anticipating the return of travellers by the end of this year with a focus on traditional regional markets, particularly those from China, Korea, Japan, Thailand and Singapore, according to Alain Brun, the chief executive officer of Cambodia Airports.
Government meetings with the tourism industry indicate stakeholders are eying an earnest re-opening by the fourth quarter, according to Brun.
The government has set an ambitious goal to vaccinate 10 million by January and already more than 32 percent of its target group has been inoculated, making it among the most highly immunised populations in the Asia-Pacific region. Tourism accounts for some 32.7 percent of the Kingdom’s gross domestic product.
“Some recovery could take place by this year-end [but] even [then], we would still be far from pre-Covid levels of traffic at airports. For this to happen, we must maintain momentum in vaccine jabs to ease cross border travels and quarantine measures for fully vaccinated visitors,” Brun told Khmer Times.
France’s VINCI Airports owns 70 percent of Cambodia Airports and Muhibbah Masteron Cambodia owns the remainder. The firm operates three international airports: in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville.
During the initial stages, the Kingdom will eye bilateral agreements with traditional partners, such as China and Thailand. The government is closely studying the possibility of travel bubbles and green air corridors with countries that have put in place stringent measures to fight Covid-19, according to Brun.
“We are closely studying the Phuket model in Thailand to learn from its experience. It is indeed an island, but Cambodia will be an island itself because most of the adult population will be vaccinated soon and the levels of inoculation will likely be better than in Phuket,” said Brun.
“The travel industry is 100 percent in favour of travel bubbles and we should find a balance between public health safety and implementing green air corridors between countries that have strictly monitored the Covid-19 situation, which is the case with Cambodia,” he added.
The Thai government is set to waive quarantine requirements for vaccinated foreign visitors beginning next October and Phuket will be a testing ground beginning on July 1. The model may be implemented in tourism-dependent Siem Reap town, which was recently awarded Trip Advisor’s “World’s Top Luxury Tour Award”.
“We plan to heavily promote Siem Reap as travel begins to resume. It is not the first time that Trip Advisor has recognised Siem Reap but the award comes at an opportune time because countries are prioritising vaccination campaigns and people are getting ready to travel,” said Brun.
Cambodia Airports has been subsisting through the pandemic because of business travel and air cargo traffic. Brun said that air freight levels at Phnom Penh International Airport in June were only 15 percent below 2019 levels, indicating that the economic global recovery is under way.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50882517/airports-ready-for-passengers-air-bridges-travel-bubbles/