PHNOM PENH, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- About 1.29 million Chinese tourists visited Cambodia in the first half of 2019, up 38.7 percent over the same period last year, according to Cambodian tourism ministry's report released on Wednesday.
China is still the biggest source of foreign visitors to the Southeast Asian nation, accounting for 38.7 percent of the total foreign arrivals to the kingdom during the January-June period this year, the report said.
Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon said recently that China is a huge market for Cambodia's tourism industry.
"We hope to attract about 2.6 million Chinese tourists in 2019, 3 million in 2020, 5 million in 2025 and up to 8 million in 2030," he said.
According to the report, a total of 3.33 million international tourists traveled to Cambodia during the first six months of this year, up 11.2 percent over the same period last year.
Tourism is one of the four sectors supporting the country's economy.
Last year, Cambodia received 6.2 million foreign tourists including 2 million Chinese, earning gross revenue of 4.35 billion U.S. dollars, Thong Khon said, adding that tourism contributed 12.7 percent to the country's GDP.
