South Korea to Expand Flights to Cambodia

Written by DAP NEWS -- Monday, 12 October 2009

 (POst by CAAI News Media)

Cambodian tourism businesspeople and Government officials on Saturday welcomed the expansion of flights from South Korea to Cambodia.

Korean Air plans to schedule new flights twice a week from Busan to Siem Reap, starting in January, the Korean Joon Ang Daily quoted Korean Air as saying on Friday.

Top carrier Korean Air decided to suspend temporarily its flight from Incheon to Saint Petersburg, Russia, from last Friday until the end of March next year. Since the region is located in the far north, the day is short and night is long in winter, attracting relatively fewer tourists, it added. “We all welcome the new information about expansion of flights from South Korea after its tourist arrivals to Cambodia dropped after the global financial crisis,” said Ang Kim Eang, chairman of Cambo- dian Association of Travel Agencies (CATA) and owner of a travel company. “We hope it will bring more travellers, investors and tourists to visit from South Korea and other places,” he added. He said that tourism is beginning a small recovery. Arrivals “increased about 1.1 percent in September for foreign tourists, and it could be more when the world economy is recovered from recession,” he said. Bun Tee, the president of the Association of Tourist Guides for Phnom Penh, said an increase in South Korean and foreign travellers from the expansion of flights from South Korea would help local people by creation of jobs.

High-ranking Tourism Ministry officials could not be reached for comment yesterday. But one Tourism Ministry official said on condition of anonymity that the expansion of the flights from South Korea is likely to be the result of the South Korean Government’s push for visitors and investors to look to Cambodia. The South Korean president will visit Cambodia on October 22-23.