Cambodia recorded a strong tourism recovery in June and welcomed 525,500 visitors, close to 17% above the comparable figure in 2019.

Leisure travellers remained the main purpose of visit, accounting for 77% of the total monthly visitors to Cambodia.

In terms of source market, Thailand took over China as the largest feeder market, followed by Vietnam, China, Laos, and the US.

While the number of visitors increased, most travellers entered the country via land borders, and entry via airports only accounted for one-thirds of the visitor arrivals. Both airports in Siem Reap and Sihanouk recorded limited international arrivals due to the slow resumption of flights from key cities in the region.

Starting early this year, Cambodia expanded the border pass, which allows Thai citizens to travel to adjacent provinces of Cambodia across land borders without a passport, to one of its most known sightseeing spots, Siam Reap. The border pass would allow Cambodians to travel to Thailand without a passport and is expected to boost trade and tourism in areas near the border.

Japan

Japan’s tourism continued to boom amid the relatively weaker yen. In June, the country welcomed over 3.1 million visitors, about 9% above the levels in 2019. Most feeder markets showed an increase from the pre-pandemic period, except China and several ASEAN markets.

With more than 700,000 travellers, Korea is the largest feeder market to Japan due to the new flights between Incheon and various destinations, including Narita in Tokyo, Shimoji-jima in Okinawa, and Matsuyama in Ehime. Cruises also launched new routes from Korea to two ports in Japan, further boosting the number of Korean travellers to Japan. New flights from major cities in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong were introduced to accommodate the increasing demand at the same time.

However, overtourism became a serious issue for residents in the main tourism areas. To tackle overtourism, authorities across Japan have been exploring solutions. As the first city facing such challenges, Kyoto cancelled the bus day pass last summer, but it did not stop travellers flocking to anywhere in the city with multiple cases of misbehaviour.

The mayor of Himeji City reportedly said that the city would consider increasing the foreign tourists’ entry fee to Himeji Castle, a designated national treasure, to up to four times the current price of 1,000 yen. The towns near Mount Fuji also tried to stop tourists from flocking to a popular Instagram spot with barriers, but it was taken town shortly as the behaviour of tourists “seemed to improve” and a typhoon approaching at the same time.

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