By Kong Soriya
Indonesian airline Citilink will launch a direct flight to Indonesia in the second half of 2019, with direct flights to boost tourism between the two countries.
In a meeting with Sudirman Haseng, Indonesian Ambassador to Cambodia on February 7, Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon said that Cambodia and Indonesia had missed operating the flights for long time and the decision to launch direct flights between Cambodia and Indonesia is made as the influx of tourists between Cambodia and Indonesia has increased about 11 percent.
“In 2018, there were about 55,000 visitors from Indonesia to Cambodia and currently, with the 10 member countries of ASEAN, only Indonesia and Brunei has no direct flight to Cambodia,” Mr. Khon said.
Sudirman Haseng, Indonesian Ambassador to Cambodia, said the launch of the flight is with Indonesian Embassy’s aims to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Cambodia and Indonesia in 2019 as the launch date of the first direct flights between Cambodia and Indonesia.
Thoun Sinan, president of Asia Pacific Travel Association, welcomed the good news, saying that having more airline companies directly to Cambodia will be good, which will help boost tourism and trade between the two countries.
“For me, I welcome having all the direct flights which are to bring benefits to our country, so the more flight we get, the better we get,” Mr. Sinan said.
