ACC Secretary-General Met with Minister of Tourism of Cambodia

On 20 January 2016, ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) Secretary-General H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping met with H.E. Dr. Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism of Cambodia during the 35th ASEAN Tourism Forum in Manila, the Philippines.

Dr. Thong Khon expressed appreciation for ACC’s strong support since its establishment to the development of tourism of Cambodia, as well as ACC’s efforts in organizing investment mission of Chinese entrepreneurs to Cambodia to explore new business opportunities, and promote understanding of each other's market and economic potentials. He said that the number of China's outbound tourists visiting Cambodia had been increasing in recent years, however, the figure was not significant enough. He hoped that ACC could continue to support tourism exchanges and cooperation between Cambodia and China, in areas such as tourism infrastructure development, capacity building for local tourism professionals in order to be familiarized and to provide high quality and efficient services to cater to the demand of the Chinese tourists. He also hoped that ACC could play a bridging role for Cambodia’s promotion activities in efforts to introduce Cambodia’s tourism potentials in China, to boost the development of its tourism sector.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping briefed the Minister on the growing tourism exchanges between ASEAN and China. From January to November of 2015, ASEAN enjoyed an increase of 53.4% of Chinese visitors, with total bilateral visits between ASEAN and China of more than 21.5 million. ACC attached great importance to ASEAN-China tourism exchanges and cooperation. Last year, ACC organized three capacity building projects in Manila and Cebu of the Philippines and Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia, which were well received by the local tourism business community and other stakeholders. She further added that in 2016, ACC would continue to embark on activities to strengthen the communication with the tourism authorities and related industries of ASEAN countries and jointly promote ASEAN-China tourism cooperation to a new level.