Chinese tourists to Cambodia's Angkor heritage site up 25 pct in 11 months

Cambodia's Angkor Wat Temple.[Photo/IC]

The number of Chinese visitors to Cambodia's Angkor Wat Temple, a world heritage site, increased to 307,000 in the first eleven months of 2014, up 25 percent over the same period last year, a tourism data showed Monday.

The data released by the tourism department in Siem Reap province, where the 12th century temple is located, said China is the second largest source of tourists to the site after South Korea.

"The remarkable surge in Chinese tourists to the temple is thanks to the temple's world heritage status, many direct flights between the two countries, and excellent ties between the governments of the two countries," said Chhoeuy Chhorn, deputy chief of Siem Reap provincial tourism department.

Angkor Wat, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992, is the kingdom's largest tourist destination. It is situated about 315 km northwest of capital Phnom Penh.

The temple attracted a total of 2.1 million foreign tourists during the first eleven months of this year, up six percent over the same period last year, the data said. The top five tourist source countries to the site are South Korea, China, Japan, Vietnam and Thailand.