(Phnom Penh) Foreign tourists will soon be able to visit the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, after the decision announced Tuesday by the authorities to reopen part of the country to travelers who have received two doses of an anti-COVID-19 vaccine.
The beaches of Sihanoukville and the island of Koh Rong, as well as the hotel complex of Dara Sakor will be reopened from November 30, said the Ministry of Tourism.
The city of Siem Reap, the gateway to the World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat, will in turn open in January and will be one of the pilot sites for which no prior quarantine will be required.
Some two million tourists visited the Angkor site in 2019, but it has been virtually deserted since the start of the pandemic.
Tourism revenues have jumped with the pandemic from $ 5 billion in 2019, when the country attracted 6.6 million visitors, to just $ 1 billion in 2020.
Tourists traveling to Cambodia must have received two doses of an anti-COVID-19 vaccine and be tested before their departure and upon arrival in the country, the tourism ministry said.
They will also need to stay at a pilot site for at least five days upon arrival, and then complete another test if they want to be allowed to explore other parts of Cambodia.
Cambodia largely avoided a mass epidemic throughout 2020, but cases have risen since April from 20,000 to 118,000, and the country has more than 2,200 deaths.
The country has implemented a successful vaccination campaign: 96% of the adult population is fully vaccinated.