As the global Covid-19 pandemic situation is improving, Cambodia and India have agreed to set up  direct flights links, promote closer tourism exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.

The agreement was reached at a meeting held last week between Cambodian Tourism Minister Mr. Thong Khon and the newly appointed Indian Ambassador to Cambodia Ms. Devyani Uttam Khobragade at the tourism ministry.

The Tourism Minister said that Cambodia and India have a long history of religious and cultural links, with many of Cambodians enjoying religious visits to holy places throughout India prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. In order to encourage active cooperation in the tourism field, he asked the Government of India to reschedule religious tour packages when coronavirus cases will be completely contained.

Ms. Devyani Uttam Khobragade emphasized that a direct air link between Cambodia and India is one of her priorities. She also expressed a desire to work with the tourism ministry and other stakeholders for its success.

“I totally agree and support this initiative because it will bring a lot of benefits to the tourism industry, considering how young Indians nowadays really like these kinds of tourism tours,” she added.

Direct flights would make air travel between Cambodia and India more affordable and faster. In the past days prior to the pandemic, a journey between two countries took at least 6 hours, depending on the country of transit (usually Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore or South Korea).

In accordance with a statement from Secretariat of State for Civil Aviation spokesman Sin Chansereyvutha, Cambodia and India signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2002 to authorize the rights to launch the direct flights between two countries

As per the report from the tourism ministry, 1,286,080 international travelers entered into Cambodia in the first 11 months of 2020, a decrease of 78.3% from the 5,898,130 in the same period in 2019.

In regard to the COVID-19 transmission in Cambodia, the country has reported a total number of 458 confirmed cases and no death caused by the virus. However, 409 patients tested positive to the virus have completely recovered, as of Monday (Jan 25).