PHNOM PENH, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Angkor Wat Temple, one of the World Heritage Sites, earned a gross revenue of 47.3 million U.S. dollars from ticket sales in the first 10 months of 2014, the Apsara Authority, which is in charge of protection and management of the site, said Wednesday.
"The Apsara Authority has hired the Sokha Hotel Company to collect revenue from selling tickets of the Angkor visit and the revenue is directly given to the National Treasury," the agency said in a statement, adding that the hire-contract would be renewed in every five years.
It said under the contract, the company can keep 15 percent of the gross revenue from ticket sales, while 10 percent of the revenue will be taken as value added tax (VAT), 15 percent by the Angkor Preservation and Development Fund, and the remaining amount will be transferred to the national coffer.
Besides, the company has an obligation to invest between 700, 000 to 800,000 U.S. dollars a year in Angkor protection and development plans.
The explanation came after a local radio broadcast a commentary accusing the Cambodian government of leasing the Angkor to a private company for 99 years.
Angkor Wat Temple, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992, is the kingdom's largest tourist destination. It is situated in northwestern Cambodia's Siem Reap province.
An entrance fee to the site is 20 U.S. dollars a day for a foreigner, 40 U.S. dollars for a three-day visit and 60 U.S. dollars for a week-long visit.
Chhoeuy Chhorn, deputy chief of the tourism department in Siem Reap province, said Wednesday that the latest figures showed that the temple attracted 1.74 million foreign tourists during the first nine months of this year, up 11 percent year-on-year.