Angkor in the time of Covid-19

via South China Morning Post, 06 June 2020 (other stories below): Covid-19 is an extraordinary situation with its bright sides and negatives. Siem Reap’s tourism economy has been decimated, but the Apsara Authority has been busy working with restoration of monuments and park regeneration.

With only 654 foreigners visiting the temples in April 2020, each day saw an average of 22 international visitors in a 400 sq km complex that includes more than 150 significant monuments.

Angkor park today seems more empty than it was in the early 2000s, before foreign tourists began visiting in large numbers, according to Long Kosal, a spokesman for the Apsara Authority, which manages the temple complex.

“To see Angkor empty, it’s strange and extraordinary,” says Kosal. But on the plus side, the lack of visitors is allowing the Apsara Authority to get planned maintenance work, such as tree planting and road restoration, done early, he says. “We’re making preparations for when tourists come back.”

Source: As the few visitors to Angkor Wat revel in the near solitude, 10,000 in Cambodian tourist trade are out of work | South China Morning Post