Key Points
UNESCO World Heritage site attracts massive crowds for rare astronomical alignment
"A total of 37,003 tourists, including 33,500 domestic and 3,503 foreign tourists, witnessed the sunrise of the spring equinox at the Angkor Wat in the morning of March 22," it said.
On the occasion, visitors can see the sun rising perfectly aligned with the Angkor Wat temple's central tower.
Tourism Minister Huot Hak said the spring equinox this year occurred from Friday to Sunday.
Angkor Wat is one of the major temples in the UNESCO-listed Angkor Archaeological Park in northwest Siem Reap province. The 401-square-kilometre park is home to 91 ancient temples, which had been built from the ninth to the 13th centuries.
The Southeast Asian country's most popular tourist destination attracted a total of 1.02 million international tourists in 2024, generating a gross revenue of 47.8 million US dollars from ticket sales, according to the state-owned Angkor Enterprise, Xinhua news agency reported.
It was also voted as the most photogenic UNESCO World Heritage site in Asia, last year.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet had shared the Times Travel list in September 2024 showing Asia's 10 most photogenic UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The list indicated that Angkor Wat ranked first. Other world heritage sites on the list included India's Taj Mahal, China's Great Wall, Myanmar's Bagan, Indonesia's Borobudur, Vietnam's Halong Bay, Kyoto's Historical Monuments of Japan, Jordan's Petra, the Rice Terraces of the Philippines Cordilleras, and India's Hampi.
