Cambodia: The Khmer diaspora, a dormant asset for Cambodian tourism

Between collective memory and an economic lever, the roughly 700,000 Khmers living abroad represent far more than just a tourism market for Cambodia. A strategic asset still largely underutilized—one that a single direct Los Angeles–Phnom Penh flight could awaken.

In 2024, Cambodia crossed a symbolic threshold: the tourism sector welcomed nearly 6.7 million international visitors, generating approximately 3.6 billion dollars in revenue, a 22.9% increase compared to 2023. Yet behind these encouraging figures lies a more complex reality: 85% of arrivals come from the Asia-Pacific region, with the top three source markets—Thailand, Vietnam, and China—alone accounting for nearly two-thirds of the total. This geographic concentration constitutes a structural vulnerability, as demonstrated by recent border tensions with Bangkok, which contributed to a sharp decline in arrivals.

It is in this context that the question of the Khmer diaspora deserves renewed attention.

A global community with well-defined contours

The Cambodian diaspora was born out of the trauma of 1975, when the fall of the government to the Khmer Rouge forced hundreds of thousands to flee to refugee camps along the Thai border. This movement continued throughout the 1980s, during the Vietnamese invasion. These exiles found refuge in four main countries.

In the United States, approximately 360,000 people identified as Cambodian in 2023, according to Census Bureau estimates analyzed by the Pew Research Center—particularly concentrated in California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Texas, and Pennsylvania. In France, the Cambodian community numbered around 80,000 in 2020, making it one of the largest in the global diaspora. Notably, unlike Cambodian communities in the United States, Canada, and Australia, the Cambodian population in France is, on average, more educated, older, and has significantly higher income levels. Overall, the number of Khmers living outside the Kingdom is estimated to be between 700,000 and one million.

Diaspora tourism: a resilient, often undercounted market

Official statistics from Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism classify these visitors by country of residence—thus a Cambodian-American is counted among arrivals from the United States—rendering their contribution invisible in national dashboards.

However, academic research on so-called VFR tourism (visiting friends and relatives) reveals a distinctive economic profile. VFR travelers tend to stay longer and make repeated visits to their destination, allowing them to spend more “tourism money” over their lifetime than occasional travelers.

More structurally, VFR tourism proves less vulnerable to economic fluctuations and less sensitive to seasonality. VFR spending tends to spread broadly across the local economic fabric rather than concentrate in the formal tourism sector—meaning a diaspora visitor supports artisans, markets, interprovincial transport, and neighborhood restaurants, whereas a typical tourist remains largely confined to the hotel economy.

Financial transfers reflecting a lasting bond

The strength of the link between the diaspora and the home country is also reflected in remittances. According to the World Bank, transfers received by Cambodia increased by 6% to reach 2.8 billion dollars in 2023. These remittances accounted for 6.57% of Cambodia’s GDP in 2023, making overseas Khmers an underrecognized yet decisive pillar of the national economy. This continuous financial flow reveals a natural inclination to invest in the country of origin—an inclination that can just as easily translate into regular tourist visits, provided that reception conditions match emotional attachment.

A missing air corridor: Los Angeles–Phnom Penh, the decisive link

There is a striking anomaly in Cambodia’s aviation geography. Long Beach, California, hosts the largest Cambodian community outside the Kingdom, with around 50,000 people concentrated along East Anaheim Street, nicknamed “Cambodia Town.” Yet in 2024, no direct flights from the United States to Cambodia were available: any traveler from Los Angeles, Lowell, or Minneapolis must transit through Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo, or Singapore, for a total journey often exceeding twenty hours. The Los Angeles–Phnom Penh route remains the most traveled by American visitors to Cambodia, with an average round-trip fare of 2,220 dollars. This double constraint—high cost and travel fatigue—constitutes a major structural barrier for a diaspora partly composed of modest-income families.

The inauguration in September 2025 of Phnom Penh’s new Techo International Airport changes the situation. Designed by Foster & Partners, equipped with three runways and an initial capacity of 13 million passengers, it permanently replaces the old Pochentong airport.

VINCI Airports, which has taken over its management, has explicitly identified the development of new air routes as a priority to strengthen Cambodia’s international connectivity. The Cambodian government has also finalized three major air agreements—including the ASEAN-EU comprehensive air transport agreement and the ASEAN-China framework—with the aim, according to civil aviation spokesperson Sinn Chanserey Vutha, of “opening new routes and supporting economic development.” A bilateral agreement with Washington would be the logical next step.

The technical conditions for such a transpacific flight are in place: the Los Angeles–Phnom Penh distance is about 13,200 kilometers, within the range of Boeing 787 Dreamliners and Airbus A350 aircraft used by major Asian airlines.

A three-times-weekly service would mechanically reduce fares, shorten travel time to around sixteen hours, and make the journey accessible to part of the diaspora that currently forgoes it. For the Long Beach community alone—less than an hour from LAX—the latent demand effect would be considerable.

Toward a national program: conditions for success

It is in this context that a dedicated program—proposed by some industry actors as “Khmers Supporting Khmers”—would make full sense. The idea is not without international precedent: India, the Philippines, and Morocco have developed initiatives targeting their diaspora, combining consular facilitation, negotiated airfare offers, and partnerships with regional tourism stakeholders.

For Cambodia, such a program could be built around concrete measures: discounted train tickets to Kampot or Battambang, complimentary hotel nights through partnerships with certified establishments, privileged access to heritage sites or cultural festivals, and reduced interprovincial transport fares. The economic rationale is clear: the spending generated by these visitors far exceeds the cost of the incentives provided, benefiting the entire local economic fabric rather than only formal tourism operators.

According to Liz Ortiguera, Director General of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the renewed emphasis on family reunions after the pandemic years has become one of the most powerful drivers of tourism mobility in the Asia-Pacific region. The Khmer diaspora, sometimes separated from its roots for decades, illustrates this phenomenon with particular intensity.

Natural ambassadors in the age of social media

Beyond immediate economic benefits, the diaspora’s promotional potential is considerable. In an environment where personal recommendations have overtaken institutional advertising, a Khmer from Long Beach or the Paris suburbs sharing their reunion in Siem Reap or a walk through a Phnom Penh market reaches communities that no government campaign could access with the same credibility.

Diaspora tourism enables the maintenance and organic evolution of cultures through face-to-face interactions, reminding migrants of their roots and values while reaffirming their identity in their host country.

This dual movement—returning to one’s roots and sharing that experience outward—is precisely what tourism strategists seek to achieve, yet never as authentically as through members of the same family.

Cambodia rebuilt its tourism industry from the ruins of a lost decade. It now has the means to anchor it on foundations less volatile than regional flows or Chinese consumption trends. Its diaspora is there, spread across four continents, carrying a memory and love for the country that no geopolitical crisis can erase.

A world-class new airport, an emerging open-skies policy, a community of 360,000 Cambodian Americans within direct flight reach: all the elements of a coherent strategy are in place. What remains is to implement it—starting with recognizing the diaspora for what it truly is: not just another market, but Cambodia’s foremost ambassador to the world.