Cambodia greets 333,900 Chinese tourists in 2012

Cambodia attracted 333,900 Chinese tourists last year, a 35 percent rise compared with 247, 200 Chinese visitors in a year earlier, according to a report of the Ministry of Tourism on Tuesday.

"China is the 3rd largest tourist arrival group to Cambodia last year after Vietnam and South Korea," Kong Sopheareak, chief of the statistics and planning department at the Ministry of Tourism, told Xinhua over telephone. "We see a steady rise of Chinese tourists to Cambodia from year to year, and we foresee that the country will receive up to 1 million Chinese by 2020."

He attributed the increase to more direct flight connection between Cambodia and China and Cambodia's attractive tourism destinations. "Moreover, the very good relationship between the royal government of Cambodia and the government of China has encouraged more Chinese investors and businesspeople to do businesses in Cambodia," he stressed.

Last year, Cambodia attracted a total investment of 263 million U.S. dollars from China, according to a record of the Council for the Development of Cambodia.