Cambodia Tourism 2025 Review: Domestic Travel Cushions a Thai Border Crisis That Deepened in 2026

5.57 million international tourists visited Cambodia in 2025, down from 6.70 million the year before — the sector's first real contraction since the pandemic. The Ministry of Tourism's annual report points to a near-single cause: the collapse of overland arrivals through the Thai border, closed since June 2025 amid military tensions. Air travel, boosted by the new Techo International Airport, held up well, and domestic tourism, up sharply, cushioned the blow in provinces spared by the crisis. But the first months of 2026 show the crisis is far from over: the border remains shut, and international arrivals keep sliding.

Young Cambodian tourists photograph the sunset on a coastal beach (Illustrative photo only — © Cambodge Mag)

2024's Record Year, 2025's Reversal

In 2024, Cambodia welcomed 6.70 million international tourists, an all-time high driven by 22.9% growth over 2023 as the country caught up from the pandemic years. It looked set to durably overtake its pre-pandemic 2019 peak of 6.61 million visitors. Twelve months later, the trend reversed: international arrivals fell back to 5.57 million, a 16.9% decline that returns Cambodia to a level close to 2023.

Hotel occupancy fell by a similar margin, from 77.8% to 59.1%. Average length of stay contracted more modestly, from 7.1 to 6.2 days.

The Thai Border, Epicentre of the Decline

Arrivals data broken down by mode of transport tell two very different stories. Air arrivals rose 19.2%, to 2.86 million passengers. Land arrivals, by contrast, fell 37.8%, to 2.62 million. Almost all of that decline traces back to a single crossing: total traffic at the Cambodia-Thailand border plunged 56.8% over the year, to 1.2 million arrivals. At Poipet, the country's main overland gateway, arrivals more than halved, from 1.89 million to 836,070.

The knock-on effect shows up directly in the ranking of source markets. In 2024, Thailand was, by a wide margin, Cambodia's largest source market: over 2.1 million visitors, 32% of the total. A year later, it fell 52.4% and dropped to third place, with 1.02 million arrivals. Khmer Times and CNBC trace the collapse to the closure of the land border from June 2025, followed by two rounds of military clashes between the two countries, in July and again in December, each triggering a fresh wave of cancellations among international travellers. December alone recorded a 43.2% drop from the year before.

China and Vietnam Fill Part of the Gap Thailand Left Behind

The geography of arrivals has shifted accordingly. Vietnam became Cambodia's top source market in 2025, with 1.22 million arrivals (21.9% of the total), a market that stayed relatively sheltered from the border crisis, down just 8.8%, carried mostly by the country's eastern entry points. China followed close behind, with 1.20 million visitors (21.6%), up a striking 41.5%, confirming its strong post-Covid comeback.

Other traditional Asian markets lost ground. Laos, whose travellers often transit through Thailand, saw arrivals fall 60.7%. South Korea dropped 20.6%, after Seoul tightened its consular warnings over online scam risks in Cambodia. Europe held its ground, at a 12.3% market share and modest 3.2% growth.

Air Travel's Payoff: The New Techo Airport Delivers

On the air side alone, 2025 was a clear win. The new Techo International Airport, which replaced the old Phnom Penh airport, logged 2.11 million arrivals, up 20.6%, and now handles 38% of the country's total international tourist traffic. Siem Reap Angkor International Airport grew 9.3%, to 672,031 arrivals, while Sihanoukville International Airport jumped 144.5%, albeit from a modest base of 71,451.

The upshot: air's share of total arrivals rose from 35.8% in 2024 to 51.3% in 2025, back near pre-pandemic levels.

Domestic Tourism as a Bulwark Against the Crisis

While international tourism contracted, the domestic market kept climbing. Cambodia recorded 25.16 million domestic trips in 2025, up 11.7%, with average spending of $52 per traveller over an average stay of three days and two nights. Foreign-resident visits to the provinces fell 6.1%, to 3.74 million, an indirect reflection of weaker international tourism.

Phnom Penh remained the most-visited destination, with nearly 10 million domestic visitors, ahead of the coastal zone (9.4 million) and the cultural zone around Siem Reap and Angkor (3.5 million).

That momentum is no accident. It reflects a deliberate government strategy to limit the fallout from the border crisis. The Ministry of Tourism made the domestic market a pillar of its "Visit Cambodia in the Green Season" campaign, designed to turn the traditionally quiet rainy season into a period of sustained activity. The campaign's 2025 pilot phase alone drew 9.46 million domestic travellers between May and October, up 64.7% year on year, a surge that directly helped offset losses in provinces least exposed to the closure of the Thai border.

There's a geographic logic at play too. By steering local demand toward destinations less dependent on regional tourism, the coastal areas of Kep and Kampot, the ecotourism sites of the northeast, authorities are trying to spread economic benefits more evenly across provinces, rather than leaving them concentrated at the border crossings hit hardest. The Cambodia Tourism Board's chief executive has pointed to Kep and Kampot as under-promoted assets, best marketed through three-day packages combining the coast with local cuisine.

That partial shift toward the domestic market helps explain the year's sharpest paradox: international arrivals fell 16.9%, yet total tourism receipts rose 6.6%. The divergence owes much to higher per-capita spending among international visitors. But the resilience of domestic demand, less lucrative per trip at an average of $52 but far greater in volume, kept hotels, restaurants and local guides in business across the areas spared by the crisis, cushioning the blow to jobs and revenue across the sector.

$3.9 Billion in Receipts, 9.8% of GDP

Despite fewer visitors, international tourism receipts rose 6.6% in 2025, to $3.88 billion, lifting the sector's share of Cambodia's GDP to 9.8%, up from 9.4% in 2024. The sector claims roughly 420,000 direct jobs, across a stock of 95,588 hotel and guesthouse rooms, 2,301 registered restaurants, and 652 active tour operator and travel agency licences nationwide.

2026: The Crisis Deepens Before Any Hope of a Rebound

Data available for the start of 2026 shows the crisis didn't close out with the calendar year. A ceasefire did take effect on December 27, 2025, but it remains fragile, and the land border with Thailand remains closed as of this writing. Authorities continue to advise against approaching within 50 kilometres of the front line. Between January and May 2026, international arrivals fell 47.8% year on year, to 1.54 million visitors, down from 2.95 million over the same period in 2025. Even Siem Reap Angkor, the beating heart of Cambodian tourism, saw foreign arrivals drop 31.9% over the period.

Across the first half of 2026 as a whole, international tourism receipts collapsed 31.5%, to $1.4 billion, on 1.8 million arrivals, down from 3.4 million a year earlier. And even excluding Thailand from the count, the decline still runs close to 30%, a sign the crisis has spread beyond the border conflict itself to erode international travellers' confidence more broadly, in a climate also shaped by international media coverage of the online scam compounds operating in the country.

Domestic tourism, for its part, kept confirming its role as a buffer. More than 6 million domestic trips were recorded in the first quarter of 2026, up 58% year on year, and more than 20.3 million over the first five months of the year, a 54.2% increase. In response, the government renewed and expanded its "Visit Cambodia in the Green Season" campaign for 2026, this time paired with discounts of up to 50% on accommodation and dining in Siem Reap starting in August, an anti-scam law passed in April, and a visa-free scheme for Chinese visitors running from June 15 to October 15, 2026.

Still, the medium-term trajectory hinges on a variable Cambodia doesn't control alone: the reopening of the Thai border. Asked about it in June 2026, Prime Minister Hun Manet said there was, for now, no need to discuss it. In its 2026 Annual Consultation Report, regional macroeconomic research office AMRO warns that persistent border restrictions, combined with rising transport costs and 4.5% inflation, will keep weighing on Cambodian tourism and cross-border mobility until a durable political resolution is found.