About 871,000 Cambodians travel abroad in 2013, up 10%

The number of Cambodia's outbound travelers increased by 10 percent year-on-year to 871,000 last year, a report of the Ministry of Tourism showed Tuesday. Ang Kim Eang, president of Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, which represents about 220 tour and travel companies, said most of Cambodian travelers went to ASEAN countries thanks to visa exemption agreements and easiness in traveling by both land and air. "They prefer to go to Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia for leisure, business or medical treatment," he said, adding that outside ASEAN, they like going to China and South Korea thanks to direct flight connections. He said the increase of Cambodian outbound travelers was also attributed to the people's better living conditions. Cambodia has the population of 14.8 million. Speaking at a trade conference on Tuesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Cambodian per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) was 1, 036 U.S. dollars in 2013, up 6 percent from 973 U.S. dollars in 2012.