Cambodia welcomed more than one million Chinese tourists during the first 11 months of 2025, up nearly 50% over the same period in 2024. The total number of international visitors exceeded 5 million in the same period.
The Ministry of Tourism reported that from January to November, nearly 5.2 million international guests visited Cambodia. Of them, more than 1.1 million were Chinese nationals, representing an increase of nearly 44% compared to the same period in 2024.
The data was presented at the December 20 opening ceremony of the “Cambodia-China Tourism Business Matching 2025”, held in Phnom Penh.
The event was attended by Huot Hak, Minister of Tourism; Jiang Chao, representative of the Chinese embassy to Cambodia and senior Cambodian officials, as well as representatives of the Cambodia Tourism Marketing and Promotion Board (CTB), Cambodia Tourism Federation (CTF), Cambodia Association of Travel Agents (CATA), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)- Cambodia Chapter, Cambodia Hotel Association (CHA) and Cambodian-Chinese tourism companies and businessmen, a total of more than 500 local and international guests.
The tourism minister welcomed the positive growth in Chinese arrivals, noting that this increase stems from the strong friendship and close cooperation between the governments and peoples of the two countries.
He also expressed appreciation to Chinese businesspeople who visited Cambodia to directly assess the country’s tourism potential and investment opportunities. He emphasised that Cambodia is a safe, friendly, hospitable and attractive international tourism destination.
The minister explained that to further enhance Cambodia’s ability to attract more Chinese tourists, the Cambodian government has undertaken various measures, particularly preparations to grant visa exemptions for Chinese citizens traveling to Cambodia. Under the initial pilot phase, Chinese tourists will be allowed to stay for up to 14 days, for a four-month trial period from June 15 to October 15, 2026.
“This means that during the four-month period, all people holding Chinese passports traveling directly from China can travel to Cambodia without applying for a visa in advance and without paying any fees. They will only need to fill out an E-arrival card,” he said.
He urged all relevant parties to continue promoting Cambodia’s tourism potential and investment opportunities, especially the visa exemption policy for Chinese citizens in 2026, as widely as possible, to further boost Chinese arrivals.
The minister highlighted the rich tourism potential and investment opportunities of Phnom Penh, the heart of the Kingdom of Cambodia, with a population of more than 2 million, and development in all sectors, especially the large presence of nearly 1,600 tourism service companies that welcomed more than 11 million domestic and international tourists visiting Phnom Penh.
According to the tourism ministry, the “Cambodia-China Tourism Business Matching 2025” event featured business matchmaking sessions with more than 63 major tourism buyers from 14 provinces and cities, as well as Beijing in China, Malaysia and Vietnam. On the seller side, more than 75 major Cambodian tourism operators participated, including the national airline Air Cambodia and numerous well-known international hotel brands.
Through this forum, the ministry expected several tourism package purchase contracts to be signed. In addition, organisers arranged familiarisation trips for buyers to explore Cambodia’s tourism potential across several destinations, including Phnom Penh, Preah Sihanouk and Siem Reap provinces, among others.
