Background
The Ministry of Tourism formalised discussions with The Asia Foundation on 22 June 2026 to advance a joint project titled “Cambodia International Visitors’ Survey (CIVS)” aimed at improving tourism market intelligence. Cambodia International Visitors’ Survey (CIVS) is designed to collect digital data on international tourists’ length of stay, activity preferences, and expenditure patterns.
The Ministry has assigned technical teams to coordinate closely with The Asia Foundation on the CIVS implementation, with the stated objective of using survey outputs to inform policy and strategy. Survey findings are expected to support market monitoring, product identification, and the formulation of targeted tourism policies and capacity-building interventions.
Policy Context
The CIVS project aligns with the Ministry’s stated emphasis on evidence-based tourism planning and sustainable development. Data on visitor behaviour and satisfaction is being positioned as an input to national strategies that balance heritage promotion, visitor experience management, and sector capacity building without altering existing regulatory mandates.
Institutional Role
The Asia Foundation’s role in this partnership is described as providing technical assistance for research design, digital survey deployment, and capacity building. The Ministry of Tourism functions as the government counterpart responsible for coordinating internal technical teams and integrating research outputs into official planning processes.
Operational Implications
The CIVS will use digital survey methods to capture visitor responses, requiring coordination on sampling, data collection protocols, and data-sharing arrangements between the Ministry and its international partner. Close operational coordination between assigned Ministry teams and The Asia Foundation is expected to be necessary to implement the survey across key international source markets and tourism sites.
Official Source
Meeting announcement and project summary published by the Ministry of Tourism on 22 June 2026; source: Ministry of Tourism Facebook post (linked in metadata).
