Cambodia has opened a new airport

Archive material. Date of change on the old site: 2023-10-19. Prices, dates and conditions are retained from the original and may be out of date.

Cambodia has opened a new airport in a bid to increase the flow of tourists to its iconic tourist attraction, the Angkor Wat temple complex. The old airport was partially closed due to fears that vibrations from regular flights could damage the foundations of the temple.

The new Siem Reap-Angkor Airport is located approximately 40 kilometers east of the Angkor Wat temple complex and has a 3,600-meter runway. The construction cost was 1.1 billion dollars. This airport was designed to handle a large flow of passengers and has ambitious plans for the future, including increasing the number of passengers to 12 million per year by 2040.

The airport was built as part of a 55-year build-operate-transfer (CEP) program between Cambodia and China.

Cambodia is looking to revive tourism, which is one of the main pillars of its economy. The years before the coronavirus pandemic saw a significant increase in tourists, with visitor numbers reaching around 6.6 million foreign tourists in 2019. The new airport will serve as a modern gateway to Cambodia's cultural heritage and further promote tourism in the region.