Cambodia's Tourism Paradox: Fewer Foreign Visitors, But a Kingdom Travelling More Than Ever

On paper, the numbers look alarming for Phnom Penh. On the ground, a different story is unfolding — one of a country rediscovering how to travel within its own borders.

Cambodian tourists in Kampot. @CG

An unprecedented international slowdown

After an exuberant 2024, marked by a sharp rise in arrivals, Cambodia's international tourism sector contracted significantly in 2025. According to official Ministry of Tourism statistics, the Kingdom welcomed 5.57 million foreign visitors over the year, a decline of nearly 17% compared to the 6.70 million recorded in 2024.

The trend hardened further in early 2026. In the first quarter alone, international arrivals fell by almost 45% year-on-year, dropping to just over one million visitors. Tellingly, none of the country's ten largest source markets posted growth over the period. Border tensions with Thailand weighed heavily on regional flows, with steep declines from Thailand, Laos and South Korea, while more distant markets — the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States — held up comparatively better, with more contained losses.

Fewer visitors, but resilient revenue

A telling paradox: despite the drop in arrivals, tourism revenue held remarkably firm, reaching nearly $3.9 billion in 2025. The Ministry reads this as evidence of a shift toward higher-value visitors — fewer travellers, but ones spending more and engaging differently with the destination. It is a strategic reorientation the authorities now openly embrace, betting on cultural tourism, coastal zones and higher value-added experiences rather than chasing volume alone.

The real reversal: Cambodians rediscovering their own country

Perhaps the most striking statistic of early 2026 is this: even as foreign arrivals collapse, domestic tourism is booming. Between January and May 2026, Cambodians made approximately 20.3 million trips across the Kingdom, a rise of more than 54% compared with the same period in 2025. Over the same window, the number of Cambodians travelling abroad fell by 39%.

This is no isolated blip — it extends a trend already visible in 2025, when domestic trips grew nearly 12% to surpass 25 million for the year. Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and the coastal belt — Sihanoukville, Kep, Kampot — account for the bulk of this surge, driven by an urban middle class increasingly drawn to short, nearby getaways.

A heavy bet on infrastructure

This mixed picture has not slowed the Kingdom's ambitions in air infrastructure. Techo International Airport, backed by an investment exceeding $2 billion, officially opened on 20 October 2025, joining the Siem Reap-Angkor and Dara Sakor airports inaugurated in recent years. Over the first ten months of 2025, the country's three international airports handled nearly 5.7 million passengers, up 14% year-on-year — a bet on the future that stands in sharp contrast to the current slowdown in arrivals.

What this paradox says about Cambodia in 2026

Beneath the figures lies a country at a crossroads: an international tourism sector weakened by regional tensions and intensifying competition from Southeast Asian neighbours, yet a tourism economy reinventing itself from within, carried by its own citizens and by infrastructure built for the decade ahead rather than the current cycle alone.

For industry players — from major hotel groups to smaller initiatives along the southern coast — the message is clear: the resilience of Cambodian tourism will no longer be measured solely by international arrivals, but by its capacity to build sustainable domestic demand while foreign flows find their footing again.