Kampot International Tourism Port Expects To Launch International Ferry Services In Mid-January 2025
The Kampot International Tourism Port (KITP) has announced that it is due to launch its first international ferry service to the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc on January 15, 2025.
The port is another key cog in new infrastructure projects being developed to better connect Cambodia to the region, but it is also another project that has seen delays in launching operations. The current rollout of the international ferry service could be better communicated with social media platforms as well as a Telegram channel being the main means of communicating the services.
Kampot International Tourism Port was due to start operations by the end of December 2024 after the operator (local conglomerate AZ Group) was appointed to run the port and they had to spend at least US $10 million to ensure it was operational. A soft launch was held in December 2024 but services will be rolled out in 2025 with trial operations due to run for three months.
There is a limited website setup which probably arguably should be a priority if targeting international tourism but it is believed the KIPT website will be updated with more information before the services are launched.
Phu Quoc, which Cambodians call Koh Tral, has seen a surge in tourism over the years and the island is reported to have nearly generated one billion USD in 2024 due to tourism activities, as well as voted the world's second most beautiful by readers of American magazine Travel+Leisure and second most beautiful island in Asia by readers of the American magazine Condé Nast Traveler.
Kampot International Tourism Port - International Ferry Services 2025
The first international ferries to operate from the Kampot International Tourism Port will be operated by Cambodia’s Vireak Bantham Travel Group with a launch date of January 15, 2025, provided.
Local expats in Cambodia have also been providing relevant updates on the anticipated services, with posts indicating that the service between Kampot and Phu Quoc is expected to take approximately 40 minutes one-way with fares expected to be US $30. The high-speed ferries are capable of carrying 300 passengers, and the service will run twice a day between Kampot and Phu Quoc, with one in the morning and one afternoon each way.
Additional services are planned to Trat, on the southern coast of Thailand, as well as Cambodia’s Sihanoukville and Koh Kong, which is what the initial plans had indicated when the port in Kampot was first announced. It is also anticipated that more companies will offer services from the Cambodian and Vietnamese sides.
Kampot International Tourism Port Dara Khoy said on 31st December 2024 that there was high demand coming from; “Cambodians, expats who live in Kampot, live in Phnom Penh and also some expats from Phu Quoc and also travel agents running tour services.” but they did not specify how this demand was tracked.
No details have been provided on what customs and immigration services have been established at the KITP or will be needed for passengers travelling either way. Some speculative posts have been made public on social media groups but no official announcement has been made. These speculations include that no visa will be required for foreigners to enter Phu Quoc if the length of stay is 30 days or less.
Currently, there are already ferry services that run from nearby Ha Tien on the Vietnamese side of the border which has been operating ferries to the island for many years with prices set at around US $15-24 for a return trip and can include local shuttle bus transfers from the Cambodian side - but the travel time is between 90-120 minutes for the ferry ride alone.
For the KITP to be a success in the trial period, all of these issues of visas, competitive pricing and more will need to be addressed to make the venture successful.
Bilateral trade between Cambodia and Vietnam has surpassed US $7 billion in 2024 which is more than a 20 per cent increase compared to 2023. 1.2 million Vietnamese tourists visited Cambodia between January to November 2024, an increase of slightly more than 30 per cent compared to the same period in 2023 and were the second-largest source of tourists to the Kingdom.