Cambodia Tourism Roadmap to 2027–2028: Resilience Amid 2025 Challenges

The Ministry of Tourism gathered public and private sector stakeholders in Phnom Penh on Monday to define a targeted roadmap for 2027–2028. This strategic planning exercise is more than necessary following the turbulence of 2025.

In the context of a profound reconfiguration of global tourist flows, Cambodia's Ministry of Tourism organized a working workshop on Monday, May 4, 2026, at 8:30 a.m., dedicated to studying inbound tourism markets and promotion for the 2027–2028 period. Gathered around the theme "Assessment and Identification of Priority Tourist Markets for Cambodia 2027–2028," participants conducted their work under the co-presidency of His Excellency Huot Hak, Minister of Tourism and co-chair of the public sector Tourism Working Group, and Oknha Luu Meng, co-chair representing the private sector within the Government–Private Sector Forum (GPSF).

The workshop brought together members of the public and private sector Tourism Working Group, representatives from competent ministries and institutions, members of the Cambodian Tourism Research and Promotion Council, as well as delegates from tourism associations and private sector companies.

Mixed 2025 Review Reveals Structural Vulnerabilities

The holding of this workshop follows directly from a 2025 year that deeply shook the sector's certainties. The Ministry of Tourism recorded 5.57 million international tourists in 2025, a 16.9% decline from 2024, with December arrivals plunging 43.2% due to military tensions at the Thai border in Battambang and Siem Reap provinces.

While the sector saw a strong recovery in the first half of 2025, supported by destination diversification, strengthened direct air links, and the commissioning of new international airports, armed tensions between Cambodia and Thailand—occurring twice—as well as regional online scam issues slowed growth in the second half to 5.1%, compared to over 13% in 2024.

The geography of source markets has also been deeply reconfigured. Vietnam remained Cambodia's top source market in 2025 with 1.22 million visitors, followed by China with 1.2 million tourists—a 41.5% increase—while Thailand, the third market, saw a brutal 52.4% drop to 1.02 million visitors.

This overall picture reveals a significant paradox: tourism revenues still reached about $3.7 billion USD, up 3%, indicating that the drop in attendance was accompanied by an upscale shift in visitor profiles—particularly through air tourism, whose added value is structurally higher than land border tourism.

Air Connectivity: Key Lever for Competitiveness

One of the central topics of the workshop was air connectivity, now identified as the main vector for resilience and development. Recent transport infrastructure achievements—notably the opening of Techo International Airport on October 20, 2025—have significantly contributed to attracting international tourists and investors, according to Cambodian tourism experts.

From January to October 2025, the Kingdom's three international airports—Techo International Airport, Siem Reap–Angkor International Airport, and Sihanouk International Airport—handled 52,954 incoming and outgoing flights, a 12% increase from the same period in 2024, serving 5,665,129 air passengers, up 14%.

This airport dynamic continues in 2026. Cambodia's aviation industry served nearly 700,000 passengers in January 2026, up 4% from December 2025, with 6,243 flight movements recorded, as the State Secretariat for Civil Aviation (SSCA) targets 8 million passengers for the year.

Five Objectives for Sustainable Competitiveness

Faced with these dynamics, the May 4 workshop structured its work around five operational axes: identifying priority and high-potential source markets for 2027–2028; understanding global travel trends influencing demand to Cambodia; analyzing structural challenges affecting competitiveness, including air connectivity and pricing policy; evaluating perceptions, misconceptions, and booking barriers among potential travelers; and finally, formulating concrete recommendations to strengthen the Kingdom's international positioning.

Discussions also addressed the crucial issue of converting interest into actual travel, developing differentiating tourism products, and strengthening regional competitiveness against destinations like Vietnam, Thailand, or Indonesia—all pursuing aggressive attractiveness strategies.

Market Diversification: China, India, and Beyond

The workshop highlighted the need to diversify source markets beyond historical dependence on regional land flows. The Cambodian government aims to diversify its tourism portfolio with strengthened air connections and more attractive options for long-haul tourists, prioritizing China and India while maintaining strong ties with traditional Southeast Asian markets.

India is emerging as a source market: following the ASEAN–India Tourism Year 2025, Cambodia has intensified its presence at Indian trade fairs and cultural events, supported by new air links connecting Phnom Penh to New Delhi.

On the Chinese front, the dynamic is particularly promising. The visa-free entry policy for Chinese nationals, effective in 2026, is designed to remove travel barriers and encourage more frequent stays, both in groups and individually, with promotional campaigns already launched on Chinese social networks and online travel agencies, highlighting Angkor Wat and coastal ecotourism destinations.

Rebuilding Trust: Competitiveness Imperative

Beyond figures and market analyses, participants emphasized that a destination's competitiveness rests first on traveler trust. Tourism Minister Huot Hak called on provincial authorities to raise standards at existing sites by improving environmental conditions, services, and infrastructure, while valorizing each province's untapped tourism potential to make destinations more attractive.

Thourn Sinan, president of the Cambodian chapter of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), recalled that Cambodia faced heavy pressures in 2025, between online scam allegations and tensions with Thailand, in a global context he described as unpredictable.

The cornerstone of the 2026 roadmap is "trust": the Ministry of Tourism has made safety and service quality the main attractions for high-value travelers, in a structural transformation logic that goes far beyond promotional supports.

Cautious Outlook, Clear Vision for 2027–2028

For 2026, Cambodia expects around 5.6 to 5.8 million international tourists, a level close to the 5.57 million recorded in 2025, according to the Ministry of Tourism's report published on February 3, 2026. In this context, the May 4 workshop emerged as a pivotal moment: one where the sector deliberately turns its gaze to 2027–2028, aiming to build a market approach based not on raw visitor volume, but on quality, sustainability, and resilience.

Tourism remains one of the fundamental pillars of the Cambodian economy, alongside manufacturing exports, real estate, and construction, with the World Bank estimating the country's economic growth at about 6% in 2024. Preserving and amplifying this contribution now requires a precise, targeted market strategy, constantly reevaluated in light of a rapidly changing regional and global environment.

The contributions gathered at this workshop will directly feed into Cambodia's strategic orientations for 2027–2028, with the ambition to build a competitive and sustainable tourism development approach—worthy of the "Kingdom of Wonder."