PHNOM PENH, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia had received 1.2 million international visitors during the first seven months of 2020, down 68.7 percent from 3.84 million over the same period last year, said the latest report released by the Ministry of Tourism on Friday.

China, Vietnam and Thailand were the largest sources of foreign travelers to the Southeast Asian country during the January-July period this year, the report said.

It said some 283,063 Chinese, 179,784 Vietnamese, and 171,677 Thais visited the kingdom during the first seven months of this year, down 81 percent, 62 percent, and 14 percent, respectively compared to the same period last year.

In July alone, Cambodia welcomed only 20,689 foreign visitors, a 96-percent drop from 502,421 over the same month last year, the report said.

The huge slump in the number of international arrivals to Cambodia was due to the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the country to impose entry restrictions for all foreign travelers since March.

Tourism Minister Thong Khon has predicted that Cambodia could lose about 3 billion U.S. dollars in tourism revenue this year due to the decline in the number of international visitors.

"For 2020, due to the COVID-19 crisis, the number of foreign tourists to Cambodia can drop by 70 percent," he said. Enditem

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