SIEM REAP, Cambodia - Foreign visitors to Cambodia's northwestern Siem Reap province, home to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Angkor temple complex, are falling sharply as high travel costs and the country's reputation as a base for organized fraud deter overseas travelers.
Worsening conditions in the Middle East have reduced flight availability and pushed up travel costs, deterring visitors from Europe, a key market.
The downturn is dealing a serious blow to the local economy, with tourism centered on the ancient ruins serving as one of its pillars.
According to provincial authorities, about 388,000 people visited the temple complex between January and June this year, down 32 percent from a year earlier.
Arrivals from major markets, including the United States, Britain, France and China fell, while the number of tourists from Japan dropped 33 percent.
The lobby of Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport was largely deserted in late June.
Opened in 2023 as part of China's Belt and Road initiative, the airport was built in anticipation of growing tourist numbers. Yet it handles only a little more than a dozen international round-trip flights each day, mainly to neighboring Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Passenger traffic remains far below levels seen in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, when the city's previous airport was still in operation.
The slowdown is also evident on Pub Street, a bustling district popular with foreign visitors, where the usual crowds are nowhere to be seen.
An employee at a well-known establishment frequented by U.S. actor Angelina Jolie during a film shoot said customer numbers were down about 30 percent from a year earlier.
Thim Sereyyuth, the provincial tourism director, said rising airfares were putting Siem Reap at a disadvantage to Vietnam and Thailand, which offer direct flights from Europe.
He said the province was failing to make full use of an international airport capable of handling long-haul flights.
The downturn comes as many people working in tourism are still recovering from the impact of the pandemic.
"Before the pandemic, I used to have work three days a week. Now I'm lucky if I get even one day," said a 39-year-old veteran tour guide.
He lost all of his work during the pandemic and moved in with relatives, only to be hit by the latest decline in visitors.
Hotel manager Sok Piseth said he had already seen hotels cut staffing to minimum levels and scale back services such as spas.
The tourism industry has also been hurt by reports in various countries about criminal fraud syndicates operating in Cambodia.
South Korea imposed a travel ban for parts of Cambodia after reports last October that a South Korean university student had been held captive and beaten to death by a criminal organization.
Although the restrictions were later eased, visitor numbers have yet to recover.
The peak season for tourism to the ancient ruins runs from autumn through winter, when Europe enters its colder months and Cambodia enjoys its dry season.
Hoping to revive the industry, the Cambodian government introduced a temporary visa waiver for Chinese tourists in June. Tourism industry officials are looking to an eventual expansion of the program to other countries.
