Cambodia May Soon Abolish Requirement for Arrivals to Pay US$3,000 Deposit

During the 9th meeting of the Mekong Tourism Advisory Group (MeTAG) on Thursday, Men Phearom, Director of Planning at Cambodia's Ministry of Tourism, said that the US$3,000 deposit currently required from all visitors to the country may be abolished.

At the moment, all foreign arrivals into Cambodia need to present a certificate showing a negative COVID19 result no older than 72 hours, US$ 50,000 worth of medical insurance, and must pay a deposit of US$ 3,000, with cash or debit card, which is used for the mandatory COVID19 test and any potential treatment.

Upon arrival into Cambodia, all visitors must proceed to the COVID19 test centre and if one passenger tests positive then everyone on that aircraft will be quarantined for 14 days. If nobody from the aircraft tests positive, they need to self-isolate at their own residence.

Mr. Phearom said that the Ministry of Tourism recently held talks with the Ministry of Finance in order to get approval from the Prime Minister to abolish the requirement for a US$ 3,000 deposit from visitor arrivals.

The Prime Minister has since agreed with the report, and whilst no official announcement has yet been made, Mr. Phearom said that he hoped one would be forthcoming.

Cambodia's tourism industry has been badly hit by the ongoing global COVID19 pandemic. From January to July 2020, the Kingdom welcomed 1.5 million international visitor arrivals, a decrease of 62.2% on the previous year.

Domestic tourism, whilst on the increase for the past two months, has also suffered with 2.5 million domestic tourists recorded from January to July 2020, a decrease of around 50%.

Over 111,000 people are also estimated to have lost their jobs within the hospitality and service sector.

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