AKP Phnom Penh, February 02, 2026 --    

Cambodia has secured a total of 27 awards across various categories at the prestigious ASEAN Tourism Standards Awards, presented during the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF 2026) held in Cebu, Republic of the Philippines, from Jan. 27 to 31.

The awards include 5 ASEAN Clean Tourist City Standard awards (Siem Reap, Stung Sen, Kampong Cham, Battambang, Preah Sihanouk); 5 ASEAN Green Hotel Awards, 5 ASEAN MICE Venue-Meeting Room Category awards, 5 ASEAN MICE Venue-Exhibition Category awards, 5 ASEAN MICE Venue-Event Venues Category awards, 1 ASEAN Sustainable Tourism Award-Urban Category, and 1 ASEAN Sustainable Tourism-Rural Category award.

H.E. Huot Hak, Minister of Tourism, led a delegation from the Ministry of Tourism, representatives of five provincial administrations, and private-sector stakeholders from the hospitality and accommodation sector whose establishments received awards, to attend the ASEAN Tourism Awards 2026 Ceremony.

The event was organised with the objective of strengthening ASEAN tourism standards across various types of tourism service providers.

According to a statement released this morning by the Ministry of Tourism, the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2026, the 29th ASEAN Tourism Ministers’ Meeting, and related meetings held in Cebu concluded successfully under the shared ASEAN vision, “Navigating Our Tourism Future, Together.”

The 29th ASEAN Tourism Ministers’ Meeting expressed satisfaction with the strong recovery of the tourism sector in ASEAN and highlighted several key outcomes, including the launch of the ASEAN Tourism Sectoral Plan 2026–2030 and the ASEAN Tourism Marketing Strategy 2026–2030; the promotion of quality tourism; the continued development of new and innovative tourism products; and the strengthening of human resource development in tourism, particularly for communities, women, and youth.

The Meeting also noted sub-regional cooperation among the National Tourism Organisations of Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam, and agreed to elevate this cooperation to the ministerial level through the convening of the 1st Cambodia-Lao PDR-Viet Nam Tourism Ministers’ Meeting in 2026 under the vision of “Three Countries, One Destination.”

In addition, the Meeting took note of the Cambodia-Lao PDR-Myanmar-Viet Nam Foods Festival and the Seminar on On-land Tourism and Cross-Border Travel Facilitation held in Cambodia in 2025, and encouraged the continued organisation of these events to promote inter- and intra-regional tourism flows and strengthen ASEAN as a single tourist destination.

The 30th ASEAN Tourism Ministers’ Meeting will be held in Singapore in January 2027.

By Phal Sophanith