From KIMedia:
There’s no longer any need to speed up your visit at Cambodia’s past jewels. The validity length of the visiting tickets has been changed.
At least the economic crisis allows some flexibility to the visit of the unavoidable Angkor temples. At the request made by tourist professionals, and based on a decision made by Hun Sen, the ministry of Tourism asked the Sokimex concession company to bring some changes to the visit tickets.
Although there is no change to the daily visit tickets ($20), the $40 tickets for 3 consecutive days visit can now be used for visiting the site up to 3 (non-consecutive) times, but the three visits must be done during one week. That was what one official from the Apsara authority indicated while assuring that these measures will allow a better planning for tourists visiting the site, as well as flexibility in their visits.
As for the $60 weekly visit tickets, they can now be used to access the temples for 7 days, but over a period of one month.
Nothing has been decided yet for expats, especially those residing in Siem Reap, the location of the temples. They were considered as any other tourist, even for those who are married to local people, and they have children who are half-Cambodians. The idea of a yearly pass, even a paying one, never came to fruition in spite of the demands made by these expats.
These new measures, which are already pleasing tourism professionals, will come into effect as soon as the new tickets are printed.
Also according to the Cambodian ministry of Tourism, the country welcomed 2.1 million tourists in 2008, i.e. an increase of 5.5% over 2007.
