Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said that
Cambodia is always ready to welcome and provide good hospitality to Japanese
investors and tourists.
The remark came during the inauguration of a
new Japanese restaurant in Phnom Penh on Saturday night, attended by the
Ambassador of Japan to Cambodia, Mikami Masahiro.
Khon said that Cambodia is a close friend of
Japan and always welcomes Japanese investment, especially in the tourism
sector.
“Cambodia has a lot of potential and it is
favourable for tourist investors, especially who want to invest in eco-tourism,
agro-tourism and rural tourism,” he said.
Khon said there are numerous Japanese investors
in the tourism sector, including the owners of hotels, restaurants and
supermarkets and they have always shown confidence when investing in Cambodia.
“Currently COVID-19 is under control in
Cambodia and patients are recovering, under the guidance of the government and
the Ministry of Health,” he said.
Japanese ambassador Mikami Masahiro said at the
event that Cambodia is developing rapidly, especially Phnom Penh.
“As Cambodia has developed, the popularity of
Japanese food has also increased, with about 300 Japanese restaurants now
operating in Cambodia,” he said.
In 2019, Cambodia received 207,636 Japanese
tourists.
Khon also said that the ministry has been
planning to restore and promote tourism in Cambodia post-pandemic through a
three phase strategy.
“Phase one is the ‘Resilient and Restart’ stage,
where we will crisis manage in the new normal plan our recovery from the second
half of 2020 to the first half of 2021,” he said.
“Phase two will be the recovery stage, where we
will promote the recovery of the tourism sector post-crisis, which is due to
last from the second half of 2021 to 2022,” he said.
“Phase three will be the the relaunch stage,
where preparations towards the new future of Cambodia’s tourism sector will
take place, which is due to take place from between 2023 and 2025,” he added.