Cambodia and Thailand have joined hands to increase foreign and inter-ASEAN tourism under the “Two Kingdoms, One Destination” tourism pact.

Tith Chantha, secretary of state at Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism, said Cambodia and Thailand have already created a single-visa option for tourists looking to explore both countries in one trip.

“Now, we’re joining with Thailand to promote Two Kingdoms, One Destination. It will make it much easier for tourists who don’t want to visit only one country during their trip,” he said.

“Thailand has a lot of airlines operating long-haul to Europe or the United States – we don’t have many of those long flights, so we will benefit from this once the campaign kicks in.”

Thailand’s minister of tourism and sports, Kobkran Wattanakvrangkul, told the Bangkok Post that the campaign would run from 2015 to 2017.

“The collaboration looks forward to exchanging foreign travellers and facilitating travel across both countries. The plan also promotes intra-ASEAN tourism,” Kobkarn was quoted as saying.

The campaign will promote two major tourist routes. One will run along the Gulf of Thailand’s coastline, going through Bangkok, Rayong, and Trat in Thailand to Koh Kong, Sihanoukville, Kampot and Phnom Penh.

The other will also originate in Bangkok and end in Phnom Penh, but will go through further inland from Aranyaprathet in Thailand to Poipet, Battambang, and Siem Reap.

phuketrichard wrote:Cambodia is always now $30 ( or if ur crazy /want save a page in ur passport and get an evisa $40)

TheGrinchSR wrote:They announced the same thing 2 years ago... nothing ever came of it. How can two countries that can't even manage cross-border traffic sensibly ever come to manage a cooperative visa program?

For instance, if a visitor applies for a visa at a Thai embassy, the documents will be forwarded to its Cambodian counterpart for approval, which will have the authority to reject the application, and vice versa. Also, visa fees for both countries will have to be paid. For instance, the Thai embassy will charge Bt1,000 for entry into Thailand and the tourist will have to pay the Cambodian visa fee upon arrival in that country and vice versa.

As per details provided by the Thai Foreign Ministry, neither country will issue a "multiple-entry" visa.

The original idea to have a Schengen-style tourist visa was introduced at a meeting in Bagan, Myanmar in 2003 between leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. At the meeting they launched the "four countries-one destination" scheme, which Vietnam joined later. Foreign ministers of Acmecs then agreed at a 2005 meeting in Siem Reap that Thailand and Cambodia would try to implement the single-visa strategy first. "If the initial project is successful, then the remaining Acmecs members will join the scheme," Surapong told the press.