News

Some 304,000 local and foreign visitors made their way to Siem Reap for the Water Festival, representing a 10% increase from 2019. ...

Cambodia’s three-day Water Festival attracted some 4.9 million locals and tourists to the capital Phnom Penh, according to a Cambodian National Police’s report on Wednesday. ...

Phnom Penh will not see boat racing during the occasion of Water Festival Celebration this year, although the traditional event can still be organised in provinces across the country, according to a decision made during the Council of Ministers meeting on September 9. ...

Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said this year’s Water Festival, which falls on November 18-20, will not occur due to the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic. ...

There was an increase in deaths in traffic accidents during the three-day Water Festival holiday this year, as 19 people were reportedly killed compared to 10 last year.   ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has instructed the Ministry of Health to issue guidelines on measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 during the upcoming Water Festival from October 30 to November 1. ...

Out of 600 prisoners at Kampong Thom prison 18 may have their sentences reduced by six to 12 months for the upcoming Water Festival in November. ...

The annual boat races in Phnom Penh, marking the Water Festival celebrations, will take place between November 13 and 15 even if water levels in the Tonle Sap are low, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced yesterday. Speaking at a university graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh, the ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on Wednesday that the country would resume holding a three-day Water Festival this year after canceling the annual festivity four times in the past five years.   ...

This year’s subdued Water Festival festivities in the capital, where traditional boat races were cancelled, has resulted in a bump in tourism in the provinces as Cambodians use the three-day holiday to visit their families, enjoy cultural activities and lounge on beaches.“It was unusually quiet ...

As the first day of the Water Festival rolled over Phnom Penh, the city was quiet.The riverside streets, once filled with teeming crowds from the provinces, were sparsely populated. If not for the workers setting up fireworks tubes on a repurposed river barge, there would ...

The abrupt cancellation of this year’s Water Festival has had an economic fallout on small businesses that see the annual event as a windfall for their marketing and sales efforts, and had already invested in promotional materials.The cancellation marks the fourth time in five years ...

Citing low water levels of the Tonle Sap as the cause, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday justified his decision to call off the upcoming Water Festival in Phnom Penh in a speech in Kampot, even as some observers suggested political concerns motivated the event’s abrupt ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday insisted that this year’s Water Festival will go forward, in spite of the impacts on the Mekong River of a recent drought. ...

Thousands of competitors and spectators headed to Phnom Penh’s riverside on Sunday as preliminary races got underway for the upcoming Water Festival, which begins Wednesday. Hundreds of competitors sat under trees or wandered along the waterfront with oars over their shoulders as crowds and anticipation built ...

Phnom Penh capital will open second Chroy Chanvar bridge temporarily for traffic from November 1st for the celebration of Water Festival, an official at Ministry of Public Works and Transport, said Monday. ...

About 800 prisoners will be considered for Royal pardons or reduced sentences as part of Water Festival events, Such Sophan Nara, director of the Ministry of Justice’s penal department, said yesterday. ...

Expecting thousands of international tourists to travel to Phnom Penh for the first Water Festival held since 2010, the National Committee for Organizing National and International Festivals plans to set up several services catering specifically to foreigners. ...

Phnom Penh City Hall has launched an appeal for the country’s wealthy to help fund this year’s Water Festival in the capital, which is set to return next month after being canceled for the past three years. ...

Cambodia announced Sunday to cancel the annual Water Festival next month since the country has been hit hard by Mekong flash floods, the government said in a statement on Sunday. “This year, Mekong floods have been severely hitting Cambodia, claiming human lives and inundating houses, schools, ...

When a bridge and kiosk collapsed into a pond at a Phnom Penh garment factory last month, injuring more than 20 workers, the Prime Minister’s Bodyguard Unit and police rushed to scour the murky water for survivors. Some hours later, those forces remained unsure whether any ...

Provincial authorities have reported an influx of people from Phnom Penh to the provinces over the three-day Water Festival celebration, while vendors who set up shops on Koh Pich in the capital during the holiday said that they had barely broken even. This year saw ...

The Cambodian government has decided to cancel this year’s Water Festival in Phnom Penh out of respect for the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on Tuesday. The Prime Minister said in a circular notice that the celebration on the Tonle Sap ...