Cambodia to reopen to Tourists

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SternAAlbifrons
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Re: Cambodia to reopen to Tourists

Post by SternAAlbifrons »

Spigzy wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 6:22 pm Angkor is amazing, but it isn't for everyone
I agree with most of your points (deleted), Spigz, but to expand on this one a bit more..

The Glories of Angkor isn't for everybody, but from memory it was the primary reason for 85% of tourists coming here pre-Covid.
It is the pre-eminent vision most westerners have of Cambodia and will be the bedrock for attracting tourists when things start moving once again.

Having said that, i have huge doubts that cheap mass international travel will ever return to the levels that we came to expect as "normal".
I could be wrong. There could be a huge pent-up demand just waiting to jump out of the box. I just don't think all the restrictions and hassles and fears will disappear in a hurry.

Another factor is that Chinese tourists will probably beat westerners to it - and the resultant Chinese flavour in the tourist areas will turn many westerners off.
lol. We do tend to like feeling that we are the only fly-in/fly-out Gods in town.
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Re: Cambodia to reopen to Tourists

Post by Gringoism »

newkidontheblock wrote: Sat Sep 04, 2021 10:31 pm
D Shay wrote:
newkidontheblock wrote: Sat Sep 04, 2021 5:17 am Only way is to ask the Cambodian embassy in Austria.
Or ask another Cambodian embassy, like the one in Bangkok.
Can a Cambodian embassy outside of a home country issue a visa is there is already an embassy in that country?

Hypothetically speaking, say this is possible.
Yes, manny embassies, including Cambodian embassies, will issue visas to non-residents.

People are actually doing it. People are posting about doing it. Why are you questioning this? It's not something that's "possible" "hypothetically speaking." It's actually happening.
newkidontheblock wrote: Sat Sep 04, 2021 10:31 pmWhat if the Cambodian embassy in Thailand demands the person make an in-person interview, like another poster who lives in Thailand said he had to do?

The poster asking the visa question lives in Europe. His wife and family are living in Cambodia.

Does he then go through the Phuket sandbox scheme, take weeks of quarantine time, pay thousands of Baht and deposit even more into a Thai bank, endure multiple rounds of testing, just so he can fly to Thailand, and make an appointment at the Cambodian embassy in Thailand?
Yes, that's exactly what he would do, except there's no requirement to deposit money into a Thai bank account. Thailand is on the way to Cambodia for Europeans. So this may be an option for him to see is family in Cambodia. Or he can stay in his home country and not see his family for years.
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Re: Cambodia to reopen to Tourists

Post by khmerre »

Hi
I think, I know pretty well the independent European tourists (excluded backpackers) visiting Cambodia.

I don’t think, that in 2023 the numbers of the independent European tourists will be the same of 2019. The mass international travel will take many years to return to the old levels, but in Europe there are many wealthy vaccinated tourists eager to start travelling outside Europe. This summer the tourism in Europe is “booming” with European tourists, because some peoples saved money during the lockdowns.


Cambodia should take advantage of the rapid vaccination rollout and opening slowly to vaccinated international tourists soon. The country desperately needs tourism to recover. It is important to give a signal of restarting.

It is important to be quick to announce a tourism reopening, giving European tourists time to plan their trips and set a road map for the opening. All stakeholder could start to organise it, particularly the airways companies could try to set up flights to Cambodia. Before covid BKK was the most important hub for the flights from Europe, but in the future Qatar/Emirates/Etihad/Turkish could have interests to set up flights to Cambodia, because at the moment they could fly a destination with lower occupation because of overcapacity. I don’t think that will be direct flights from Europe to Cambodia in the next future.

I don’t think the tourist visa through the embassy would be a real barrier, but surely the VOA would be better.

The real obstacle for the European tourists is the quarantine (length, place etc). The European tourists don’t have time to stay confined in a place for 2 weeks, because usually they are coming to SEA mostly for 2 weeks or shorter. The other point is that the European tourists are mostly travelling individual and not as organised group. The idea to allow only through tour packages from travel agencies could slow down the interest to come to Cambodia, particularly if the meaning is to allow only to travel groups. For some/most European countries, returning from Cambodia if you are vaccinated is not necessary to do a quarantine at home.

A similar system to the Phuket Sandbox could be a feasible solution with staying in in the allowed “quarantine zone” (a week or less better). Places as the islands would be fine to start, but there is a reduced accommodation capacity on the islands. Far better would be Siem Reap, Angkor is amazing and is the magnet for Cambodia. The acceptable time of the “quarantine” depends on the possibility to travel around the province or not.
After the period (3 max 7 days) confined in the allowed “quarantine zone” the tourists could travel freely around Cambodia.

Again, Cambodia must quick announce a tourism reopening before a real opening in Thailand, Bali etc.

that's just my two cents.
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Re: Cambodia to reopen to Tourists

Post by Gringoism »

khmerre wrote: Sun Sep 05, 2021 3:45 am
Cambodia should take advantage of the rapid vaccination rollout and opening slowly to vaccinated international tourists soon.
Well one problem is that the Western press is currently terrifying every vaccinated person by highlighting all the rare breakthrough infections and seemingly trying to convince the world that vaccinated people are at high risk of contracting and spreading COVID and dropping dead from it.

Switzerland just reversed course and said vaccinated Americans now have to quarantine. I'm not sure why Cambodia would start letting in vaccinated Westerners.
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Re: Cambodia to reopen to Tourists

Post by phuketrichard »

newkidontheblock wrote: Sat Sep 04, 2021 10:31 pm
D Shay wrote:
newkidontheblock wrote: Sat Sep 04, 2021 5:17 am Only way is to ask the Cambodian embassy in Austria.
Or ask another Cambodian embassy, like the one in Bangkok.
Can a Cambodian embassy outside of a home country issue a visa is there is already an embassy in that country?

Hypothetically speaking, say this is possible.

What if the Cambodian embassy in Thailand demands the person make an in-person interview, like another poster who lives in Thailand said he had to do?

The poster asking the visa question lives in Europe. His wife and family are living in Cambodia.

Does he then go through the Phuket sandbox scheme, take weeks of quarantine time, pay thousands of Baht and deposit even more into a Thai bank, endure multiple rounds of testing, just so he can fly to Thailand, and make an appointment at the Cambodian embassy in Thailand?
2 weeks living on phuket, ( +3 tests =8,000 baht) not so bad, hotels are cheap, food is cheap, island is beautiful now... fly up to Bangkok, apply at embassy ( make sure u got tons of docs, pics, plead ur case)
than off to Cambodia for 2 week quarantine

FYIL:
I don't know any embassy anywhere that wont issue a visa to non residents>
i think in the 55 years i have had a passport, got a visa once for one country in the states>
and have been to apx 75 countries, some more than once

Having a sandbox on an island is easy, how would you do it for Siem rep ( the place they are talking about doing it in Cambodia)?
how do you stop people from leaving?
24 hour checkpoints and sorta border control points?
In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. HST
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Re: Cambodia to reopen to Tourists

Post by khmerre »

Gringoism wrote: Sun Sep 05, 2021 7:55 am
khmerre wrote: Sun Sep 05, 2021 3:45 am
Cambodia should take advantage of the rapid vaccination rollout and opening slowly to vaccinated international tourists soon.
Well one problem is that the Western press is currently terrifying every vaccinated person by highlighting all the rare breakthrough infections and seemingly trying to convince the world that vaccinated people are at high risk of contracting and spreading COVID and dropping dead from it.

Switzerland just reversed course and said vaccinated Americans now have to quarantine. I'm not sure why Cambodia would start letting in vaccinated Westerners.
it is important to start with opening the tourism and the quarantine is the most holding back factor for travelling. A light quarantine similar to Phuket Sandbox (max 7 days) could be the right thing to do to to comtemplate the fears of the residents and the desires of the tourists. In Europe this summer we had a lot of international tourists moving particularly from north EU to the south EU without having any quarantine, but just using the green pass as vaccinated or covid recovered.
phuketrichard wrote: Sun Sep 05, 2021 10:07 am
Having a sandbox on an island is easy, how would you do it for Siem rep ( the place they are talking about doing it in Cambodia)?
how do you stop people from leaving?
24 hour checkpoints and sorta border control points?
I agree, Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem could be better to control, but have a reduced accommodation capacity and quality, absolutely far from Phuket offer. Siem Reap, Angkor is amazing and is the magnet for Cambodia, using SR could attract more tourists, but you need a sorta border control points around town. Maybe the resident would accept it, because SR needs desperately tourism to recover. Around the SR province would be better for tourism but not really feasible.
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Re: Cambodia to reopen to Tourists

Post by Ahyou!whyme? »

Anyone know what this says, and who the Dr chap is ?

https://www.thetimeslink.com/2021/09/05 ... z7kXHztuN4
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Re: Cambodia to reopen to Tourists

Post by jaynewcastle »

Gringoism wrote: Sun Sep 05, 2021 7:55 am
khmerre wrote: Sun Sep 05, 2021 3:45 am
Cambodia should take advantage of the rapid vaccination rollout and opening slowly to vaccinated international tourists soon.
Well one problem is that the Western press is currently terrifying every vaccinated person by highlighting all the rare breakthrough infections and seemingly trying to convince the world that vaccinated people are at high risk of contracting and spreading COVID and dropping dead from it.

Switzerland just reversed course and said vaccinated Americans now have to quarantine. I'm not sure why Cambodia would start letting in vaccinated Westerners.

Just silly to say every vaccinated person is terrified by the stories in the Western media. I don't know anybody who is even remotely terrified :)
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Re: Cambodia to reopen to Tourists

Post by Strawberryshake »

Nobody is coming as long as face-masks, quarantines PCR testing, insurances, ect are still mandatory.
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Re: Cambodia to reopen to Tourists

Post by paul2d »

jaynewcastle wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 1:23 am
Gringoism wrote: Sun Sep 05, 2021 7:55 am
khmerre wrote: Sun Sep 05, 2021 3:45 am
Cambodia should take advantage of the rapid vaccination rollout and opening slowly to vaccinated international tourists soon.
Well one problem is that the Western press is currently terrifying every vaccinated person by highlighting all the rare breakthrough infections and seemingly trying to convince the world that vaccinated people are at high risk of contracting and spreading COVID and dropping dead from it.

Switzerland just reversed course and said vaccinated Americans now have to quarantine. I'm not sure why Cambodia would start letting in vaccinated Westerners.

Just silly to say every vaccinated person is terrified by the stories in the Western media. I don't know anybody who is even remotely terrified :)
The press in Canada is so under loved and unsupported that the Trudeau government is paying many of the big players over $100K a week to keep them afloat. And presumably to buy favourable coverage. Hopefully the election this month should put a stop to that.
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