Siem Reap/Angkor: an invisible peak season due to war with Thailand

December is generally the busiest time during the winter peak season with tourists not only enjoying Cambodia’s majestic temples but also the milder cooler climate. Except that this 2025 winter season is feeling the conflict with Thailand. The war between both Kingdoms gained in intensity during most of December, including bombing from Thailand army deeper inside Cambodia’s territory’. With the potential to scare travelers.

Siem Reap remains peaceful  -as other traditional destinations such as Phnom Penh, Kep and the Coast. Life for travelers is normal, coaches and trains circulate normally. Both Phnom Penh-Techo and Siem Reap international airports do not experience  disruption in their flights – even to Bangkok.

While hotels are all being opened, the city and its fables temples are meanwhile rather quiet. In November, data show arrivals to Siem Reap down by 18%. While some operators talk about a drop of 40% in December, during the high season.

While Phnom Penh remains busy as the capital city, the situation is more worrying for Siem Reap which is highly dependent of tourism. Many workers in town are fully dependent of visitors for excursions, handicraft, food experience beside the temples’ visit. Many hotels are also in surviving mode. At Angkor Wat temples, they are few groups of tourists. The only positive sign is for the ones visiting the UNESCO World Heritage, they benefit of excellent conditions far away from overcrowding…

“We manage to still have good booking numbers. This is first due to the strength of the Accor brand but also due to the fact that many travelers booked their holiday prior to the renewed conflict with Thailand in December”, describes Jamila Nsouli, GM of the Ibis Style Siem Reap. “However, most hotels do not experience any international booking coming in following renewed clashes. Although we still receive domestic guests“, she tells.

Beside China, all major Asian markets down

Numbers speak for themselves. Cambodia tourism has seen a sharp decline in tourist arrivals this year. Until the end of November, Cambodia welcomed 5.173 million of foreign travelers. This represents a decline of 13.8% compared to 2024. While European arrivals continued to progress, with a growth of 6.3% to reach close to 0.62 million, Asian arrivals contracted sharply.

In the first 11 months of 2025, most Asian markets were down, Chinese arrivals excepted (up 42.5% with 1.1 million arrivals). Meanwhile, other Asian markets decline. From January to November 2025, South Korea was down 16.2%, Japan 4.5%, Thailand by 47.1%, Indonesia by 17.5%, India by 9.9% and Laos by 57.9%.

The war with Thailand translated with borders’ closure. This represents a major deterrent for many travelers coming by road. Scams and cyber-criminality depressed also markets such as Japan, India, Hong Kong and particularly South Korea. US arrivals declined by 2.7% while Australian holidaymakers were up by a modest 0.4%.

The resumption of hostilities in Thailand in December will continue to deepen Cambodia’s tourism woes. The only way to counter the negative perception of the Kingdom would be a massive marketing campaign and the organization of exceptional events. Cambodia should also think of abolishing temporarily for example visa requirements to facilitate spontaneous visits. However, there is no certainty that the government would agree to such measures as it would deprive the latter of precious revenues.

“ Cambodia needs also to reinforce its communication and be able to mount up image campaigns to counter the flows of recent events“, tells Jacques Guichandut, managing director of Tour operator All Dreams.

The Cambodian government is in-between launching a visa-free entry program for Chinese travelers as a test. Chinese travelers would then be able to stay to Cambodia without a visa for 14 days during a special pilot program running from June 15 to October 15, 2026, “I think that this measure should also be extended to other markets such as South Korea”, stresses Guichandut. To late or to little?

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