Thailand
Many sea liners set to make Cambodia port calls this year
The arrival of tourists through waterways in Cambodia is on the rise this year. So far, four large cruise ships have arrived this year, but many more are scheduled to make port calls on in the coming months.
The latest to arrive at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port has been the MV Seabourn Encore of the Bahamas, which docked at the port on March 11. The sea liner carried 441 crew members and 416 tourists of 69 nationalities. Of this, the majority of passengers were from the US, according to the Sihanoukville International Autonomous Port Authority.
On the future arrivals, the Cruisedig website showed that another cruise ship, the Amadea with 624 people on board, is likely to arrive on April 3. MS Europa 2 with 516 passengers is expected to dock on April 25, and Oceania Insignia with 803 passengers may arrive on May 23.
Other passenger liners to likely to pay a visit to the Cambodian port later this year are Viking Orion with 930 passengers, AIDAbella with around 2,500 passengers, Oceania Regatta with 803 passengers, and MS Westerdam with 2,362 passengers.
The Bahamian-flagged Seabourn Encore, which is more than 200 meters long, 30 meters wide and over 6 meters deep, is also likely to make its third visit to Cambodia with 638 people onboard later this year.
Many more cruise ship visits are lined up for the next year (2004), according to the Cruisedig website that monitors ship movement.
“The return of large cruise ships into Cambodia will play a role in boosting the economy in coastal provinces, mainly Sihanoukville. With the cruise ships bringing in big numbers of tourists into the province, the likeliness of an increase in regional tourism products and services is high and this will ultimately strengthen the economy of Sihanoukville once again,” Chhay Sivlin, President of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, told Khmer Times.
Responding to another question if these tourists (cruise ship passengers) ventured out to other parts of the country or remained limited to Sihanoukville, the CATA President said, “Aside from this province, nearby coastal tourist destinations such as Kep, Kampot, and Koh Kong will also benefit through the inclusion in tour packages designed by our local travel agents. Being famous for our archaeological attractions, Siem Reap has a high potential of benefiting from having visitors who arrive by cruise ships as well,” said the CATA President.
Located on the southwest coast of Cambodia, adjacent to the Gulf of Thailand, the Sihanoukville Port is the largest seaport in Cambodia and one of the few unpolluted deep-water ports in Southeast Asia.
Earlier, in January 2023, the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port received two international cruise ships, which brought around 1,000 passengers on January 14 and January 28. Just before the end of 2022, the Seabourn Encore docked at the port on December 29 with 429 tourists belonging to different nations and 430 crew members on board.
On February 22, Nautica, a cruise ship sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands, arrived at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port with 535 tourists of 36 different nationalities (mostly American, Canadian and British) on board. The ship, some 180 meters long, 30.2 meters wide and 6.2 meters deep, left for Vietnam after a day.
According to a Ministry of Tourism report released on Friday, Cambodia’s tourism earned gross revenue of $1.41 billion in 2022, which is a 669 percent increase over the previous year.
During the year, the Kingdom of Cambodia saw the arrival of more than 2.28 million international tourists, which is a rise of 1,058 percent compared with the previous year, stated the report.
“The tourism industry contributed 3.6 percent to Cambodia’s gross domestic product (GDP) last year,” Xinhua quoted the tourism ministry report as saying.
On average, the tourists spent two nights and three days in the Southeast Asian country, it added.
In 2021, the country welcomed 196,495 international visitors, which fetched $184 million in tourism receipts. However, both the tourist arrivals and the tourism revenue earned represented a decline of 85 percent and 92 percent, respectively, compared with 2020.
In 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, Cambodia witnessed the arrival of over 6.6 million international tourists, which generated $4.92 billion in revenue.
Tourism Minister Thong Khon said the country is expected to attract over four million international visitors in 2023. “This year, we hope to attract between 800,000 and 1 million Chinese tourists,” he was quoted as saying.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501258791/many-sea-liners-set-to-make-cambodia-port-calls-this-year/