Tourists visit the Angkor Wat in Siem Reap province, Cambodia on Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Sao Khuth/Xinhua)

The number of Chinese tourists to Cambodia rose 43.1 percent year-on-year in the first five months of 2024, said a Cambodian Ministry of Tourism's report released on Tuesday.

A total of 326,003 Chinese visitors traveled to the Southeast Asian country during the January-May period this year, up 43.1 percent from 227,747 in the same period last year, the report said.

The Chinese tourists accounted for 12.3 percent of the total international tourist arrivals to Cambodia, the report said, adding that the kingdom received a total of 2.64 million foreign visitors in the first five months of this year, up 22 percent from the 2.16 million international guests over the same period last year.

China was the third biggest source of international tourists to the kingdom after Thailand and Vietnam, the report said.

Cambodian Tourism Minister Sok Soken is optimistic that the number of Chinese tourists will continue to rise thanks to the Cambodia-China People-to-People Exchange Year 2024 launched in January.

"The future of Cambodia's tourism is inseparable from the inflows of Chinese tourists and investors," he said in a speech during a joint martial arts performance event titled "When Shaolin Meets Bokator at Angkor" held at the UNESCO-listed Angkor Archaeological Park in Cambodia's Siem Reap province in April.

He added that Cambodia has considered China as a strategic partner and the biggest market for its economic growth and development.