Should Cambodia offer visa-free travel to tourists?

Bong Burgundy · Post by **Bong Burgundy** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 11:43 am

Seeing a lot of debates online recently, the main feeling is that tourism has dropped post-Covid, and the great gamble on waves of Chinese hasn't paid off.

Some tourist related groups are requesting a visa waiver for certain (richer) countries.

Would this work, or would the loss of $30 per tourist fee damage the economy?

Most tourists likely only stay a few days anyway, see Angkor Wat and go on to Thailand or Vietnam. A few might go to the islands, but there are way better options in neighboring places for sun and surf without having to transit through Shitsville or put up with whatever half-assed development project is happening on Koh Rongs these days.

Spigzy · Post by **Spigzy** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 1:05 pm

The country needs direct long haul flights so its tourism industry doesn’t ebb and flow with Thailand or Vietnam.

E.g. Thailand just decided that weed isn’t so good after all, tourism figures for Thailand will suffer and there will be even less stone head backpackers crossing the border thinking Cambodia is some backwash of debauchery of drugs, cheap women & shooting ranges.

Spigzy · Post by **Spigzy** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 1:09 pm

I should add that a cheaper alternative has always been for the Chinese to build a fast rail link from Bangkok/Thai border, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and on to Vietnam border/HCMC. A cheap holiday taking in all three countries would be an absolute winner in my book, and yet we still have Cambodia building railways that a 6 year old LEGO enthusiast would be embarrassed of- hopefully the new PM has got this one high up the pecking order..

Phuket2006 · Post by **Phuket2006** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 1:57 pm

Cambodia might miss out on the fast link train, now you can travel from Vientiane to the chinese border in around 3 hours
so soon Thailand will add a fast link to Bangkok
bangkok to Cambodia border is a 5 hours train ride (or 3 1/2 by taxi)

I doubt there would be an increase in arrivals if they offered a free 30 day entrance, yet a huge loss of revenue

chkai chgout · Post by **chkai chgout** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 3:04 pm

While rail remains with the current operator, passenger traffic is unlikely to be pursued in any meaningful way.
Cargo is the main earner.

Mike Farce · Post by **Mike Farce** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 3:21 pm

Phuket2006 wrote: ↑
Fri Sep 22, 2023 1:57 pm
Cambodia might miss out on the fast link train, now you can travel from Vientiane to the chinese border in around 3 hours
so soon Thailand will add a fast link to Bangkok
bangkok to Cambodia border is a 5 hours train ride (or 3 1/2 by taxi)

I doubt there would be an increase in arrivals if they offered a free 30 day entrance, yet a huge loss of revenue

So is Laos experiencing a giant boom in tourism?

Post by **scoffer** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 4:22 pm

I cannot see the reduction of a $30 visa fee increasing visitors to the country.
$30 is a small value in your overall travel expenses.

The best thing they did was the online visa application which cut out all the delays and visa worries of people wishing to enter the country.

Mind you, my observations over my last 4 visits in the past 18 months is that very few passengers know about the online visa approval because the que for visa on arrival is still massive.

So if they want to increase visitors - advertising the pre approved visas would help.

Londo · Post by **Londo** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 4:43 pm

There are travelers who choose their destinations based on the ease of entry into a country, not wanting to have the hassle of paperwork and passport photos for a seven day jaunt or so. Offering a visa waiver would grab a few of them, I guess.

The barriers to Cambodia becoming a serious tourist destination are far greater than saving someone $30 and probably insurmountable.

nerdlinger · Post by **nerdlinger** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 5:12 pm

scoffer wrote: ↑
Fri Sep 22, 2023 4:22 pm
I cannot see the reduction of a $30 visa fee increasing visitors to the country.
$30 is a small value in your overall travel expenses.

Not a day passes on the various Cambodia Facebook groups where there isn’t a post from someone asking about how tourist visas work and can they withdraw cash at the airport and is it still $30 and do they accept riel and will they have to pay tea money and can they pay with credit card and will the airline refund then if they’re denied boarding for not having a visa and how long is the queue at the voa desk and will they be denied if they don’t have an onward flight and they tried the evisa website but it had some problem and they applied for this date but actually they’re not landing until some other date…

it’s not about the $30.

nerdlinger · Post by **nerdlinger** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 5:20 pm

Actually I partly take that back about the $30, because it occurs to me that we’re seeing this from the perspective of relatively wealthy individuals. There’s also a significant group of people for whom part of the attraction of Cambodia would be the relatively low expense in terms of food, hotels and activities - $30pp actually is a non-negligible amount to them.

Guest9999 · Post by **Guest9999 (!PzvGGIqnas)** » Sun Sep 24, 2023 4:58 am

Eliminating the $30 Visa fee would not increase tourist arrivals. Even for cheap backpackers it is an insignificant part of their total country outlay because their in-country expenditure is not less than the average tourist: they just spend it over a longer time span, perhaps 2 or 3 weeks instead of 2 or 3 days.

Making 'E type' visas 'e-visas', would help some, scoffer's praise of e-visas makes sense, but personally I'd like to have an initial E type visa just as easy and I don't know why they couldn't be. Any docs desired for an E-Type extension could be supplied in-country when that is applied for.

As long as visas are required, free or not, some airline check-in agents might demand an onward flight, knowledge that they occasionally do likely does dissuade those travellers who like to make trip decisions on the way. not long before. Bringing both entry visa types online would help. Even more true if Cambodia does finally get more long-haul direct flights.

Yes, fast passenger train links would be great, but the gov has chosen to borrow heavily for huge airports that won't approach capacity for a decade or two. Any rich that jump on the airport band wagon will wish to hinder train improvements. (Just as influential Vietnam traders encourage the gov to constantly fumble the ball on Thailand linked cargo rail. Airport linked rail projects look all good to these same folks- lots of tasty crumbs and only poor taxi companies lose out, so PP at least might happen.)

guest440 · Post by **guest440 (!T5bTe9igKo)** » Sun Sep 24, 2023 1:04 pm

There are many opportunities to make Cambodia a unique destination. It’s about knowing the specific target group, what they are looking for when they go to SEA. Imagine a commercial campaign that borrows from the Vegas slogan, what happens here stays here. or the island vibe of Hawaiian hospitality while promoting Koh Rong, etc. One idea might be this young man who told everyone he went to Thailand, but actually got lost in Angkor Wat, realizing where the Land of Smiles actually was. You might scoff at the typical Pattaya tourist thugs. It's about standing out from the competition. The slogans could take a trip back in time, the true original, quality never goes out of style,... juxtaposed with all the recent developments, H&M, fine dining, exoticism and dragon dance artists. Focus on the road less traveled, curious locals. But it takes a good director to achieve this.