Cambodia targets 2M Chinese visitors by 2020

Cambodia wants a larger share of the Chinese outbound tourism market.

Tourism authorities in the country are already setting up plans to entice over 700,000 Chinese visitors this year, a number they expect to rise up to 2 million a year by 2020, The Phnom Penh Post reported.

In last week’s Macau forum, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Asia gambling, lodging and leisure head Billy Ng said Chinese tourists—buoyed by rising incomes in their country—spent an estimated $164 billion last year and were expected to spent $264 billion into the global economy in 2019, despite the slowing economic growth in China.

Ng said factors such as “rising disposable income and the increase in middle-class households” have tipped the scales in favor of the Chinese mass-market tourists. In turn, this sector is “driving a shift in travel and consumer preferences, with the focus now on necessity rather than luxury.”