Cambodia & Tourism 2025: A Year of Fracture, Not Collapse
- Editorial team
- 44 minutes ago
- 4 min read
With over twenty years of experience in tourism and gastronomy development, Arnaud Darc has been observing from Phnom Penh the evolution of a sector vital to the national economy. In his analysis of 2025, he makes a clear assessment: Cambodian tourism hasn’t undergone a collapse, but a brutal exposure of its structural fragilities.
A Year of Quantified Disillusionment
Statistics from the Ministry of Tourism released in November 2025 confirmed what professionals already suspected: international arrivals decreased compared with 2024. But behind the aggregate figure, the reality is contrasted.
Land arrivals dropped nearly 30%, while air arrivals grew by more than 20%. Visitors from Thailand — historically the top source market — fell by 40%, while Chinese travelers surged by roughly the same margin.
Two dynamics therefore coexist: a crisis in border-based tourism and surprising resilience in air-connected tourism. According to Darc, this asymmetry reveals that the issue isn’t an overall disinterest in Cambodia, but an excessive dependence on fragile access routes.
The Domino Effect of Border Tensions
The turning point occurred in June 2025, when escalating tensions at the Thai-Cambodian border led to crossing restrictions, insurance cancellations, and massive cuts in regional itineraries. Border towns like Poipet saw hotel occupancy rates collapse within weeks.
This shock revealed the structural dependency of Cambodian tourism on a model based on proximity: large land flows, short stays, low-budget travelers often integrated into circuits centered on Thailand. That model delivered volume but little margin, ensuring jobs but at the cost of extreme vulnerability. When the border closed, a whole swath of the system froze.
A Model Too Focused on Its Corridors
As Darc summarizes, “the system is defined not only by its attractions but by its access.” In 2025 Cambodia realized it dangerously depended on a few entry corridors. This “corridor dependence” manifests as:
A concentration of visitors at only a few crossing points.
Economic models based on short stays and low prices.
Near-zero flexibility when a major route shuts.
By contrast, destinations better connected by air resisted better. Long-haul travelers, higher-spending visitors, and markets less exposed to regional politics kept coming. China — with fluid air links and supportive bilateral policies — even acted as a partial lifeline.
A World Bank economic report (December 2025) confirmed this diagnosis: the drop in Cambodian tourism doesn’t reflect a loss of the country’s appeal, but an access shock. Cambodia, like Thailand before it, now pays the price for lagging in diversifying its gateways and tourist offers.
Angkor: False Target, True Symbol
Whenever tourism slows, Angkor becomes the easy scapegoat. Visitation has fallen, certainly, but Darc insists: the temple hasn’t lost its attraction power. No other cultural site has taken its global place. So it isn’t Angkor that has weakened, but the fluidity of access to the country that houses it.
The problem lies elsewhere: not in Angkor’s overexposure, but in the whole country’s dependence on limited access routes. Angkor remains the symbolic heart of Cambodian tourism, but it cannot by itself compensate for a faltering logistical model.
The Weight of Reputational Risk
Another aggravating factor is negative international press. Reports about digital scams, human trafficking, and criminal networks have shaken Cambodia’s image. Some regions have even faced travel restrictions from foreign governments.
While these issues are real and need addressing, Darc emphasizes they haven’t, on their own, destroyed tourist confidence. Rather, they act as risk multipliers combined with logistical fragility to deter thousands of potential travelers. In a sector as sensitive as tourism, uncertainty alone is enough to divert many visitors.
A Revealing Trial
2025 should therefore be understood as a test of resilience, not collapse. The segments that suffered — land circuits, mass tourism, border markets — share a profile: high volume, low value, geographic dependence. Those that held up — air travel, cultural and premium circuits — share diversification, value, and flexibility.
This contrast stems from the system’s very design: where the model is narrow, shocks are fatal; where it’s diversified, turbulence is absorbed.
Toward Strategic Redesign
For Darc, the lesson of 2025 is clear: Cambodia must rethink its tourism architecture. Priorities include:
Positioning Phnom Penh as a destination, not just a transfer hub to Siem Reap.
Unifying promotion of coastal regions and natural reserves into a coherent strategy.
Strengthening direct air connectivity to reduce dependence on Thailand.
Targeting higher value per stay rather than sheer visitor quantity.
The aim isn’t to abandon Angkor, but to augment its reach with a balanced national offer. Only then can Cambodia transform its vulnerabilities into lasting strengths.
A Future to Rebuild
At the end of 2025, Cambodian tourism isn’t broken — it’s laid bare. It retains its cultural capital, natural assets, and global attention. But its reliance on narrow corridors still prevents it from competing on equal footing with neighbors.
In 2026 the question isn’t whether tourists will return, but whether the country dares to rebuild differently. Waiting for a “return to normal” means accepting the next fracture. Acting now means building a sector capable of withstanding future crises.