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Vietnam Airlines to resume flights between Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos
In a positive development for the regional tourism industry, Vietnam Airlines announced that it will resume its Hanoi-Luang Prabang-Siem Reap route on July 1. The route was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it will now be restarted with three weekly flights.
The flight connecting three countries will depart three times per week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The number of flights will increase to five per week from October 30.
“We will restore the Hanoi (Vietnam)-Luang Prabang (Laos)-Siem Reap (Cambodia) route from July 1. The flight frequency initially will be thrice a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and will increase to five weekly flights from October 30,” a Vietnam Airlines spokesperson told Khmer Times yesterday.
The airline is also running seven flights per week on another trans-Indochina route that connects Hanoi, Vientiane (Laos), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam).
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com
“We first started to operate flights to Siem Reap in 2000. In 2019, we transported 400,000 passengers on trans-Indochina routes, which include
Hanoi-Luang Prabang-Siem Reap, and Hanoi-Vientiane-PhnomPenh-Ho Chi Minh City,” the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, a top official at Cambodia Airports said that there was a 20 percent increase in the number of passengers travelling to Phnom Penh this year.
“The number of passengers travelling to Phnom Penh has grown strongly this year, up over 20 percent since January. The busiest destinations this month have been Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. Singapore and Seoul are also showing strong growth, as connecting passengers from across the world travel to Cambodia,” Stephen King, Chief Commercial Officer, Cambodia Airports, told Khmer Times yesterday.
King also expressed the airport’s pleasure in welcoming many athletes and spectators who visited the country in the past few weeks for the SEA Games.
Last month, Cambodia and Vietnam also agreed to explore the possibility of operating a direct flight between Siem Reap and Phu Quoc Island.
Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism, and Nguyen Van Hung, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam, discussed the proposal during their meeting.
They also agreed to establish a water link between the Kampot tourist port and the Phu Quoc island tourist port in Vietnam to increase tourist flow between the two countries.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed to jointly promote tourism for sustainable development after the Vietnamese minister attended the opening events of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.
The two countries will focus on jointly developing tourism packages for both countries with the active participation of the private sector. Under the framework of ‘Two Countries, One Destination,’ they will promote bilateral tourism as well as tourist arrivals from other countries.
According to the latest report from the Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia attracted 1.29 million international visitors in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 709 percent over the same period last year.
While Thailand topped the chart for international travellers to the Kingdom during the first quarter, Vietnam and China were in the second and third spot.
A total of 424,241 Thais, 207,527 Vietnamese, and 132,665 Chinese visited the country from January to March, the report added.
Last month, Cambodia Angkor Air also announced the launch of a new direct flight connecting Siem Reap and Vientiane, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Laos.
excellent services to tourists to destinations in the shortest possible time. “Travelling to these two rich historic sites is an adventurous tourist’s dream come true about the culture, wonders and natural treasures there. Thus, the new flight will attract many tourists and other travellers, which may contribute to the tourism and economic development of the two countries,” the airline said in a release.