Battambang: On July 10, 2026, Tourism Minister Huot Hak presided over the opening of the Battambang Fruit Exhibition 2026, which had two main objectives.
The two objectives were: first, to connect agriculture with tourism; and second, to promote domestic tourism during the green season, in line with the Visit Cambodia in the Green Season 2026 campaign, running from May to October.
The minister said Battambang city, in Battambang province, became Cambodia’s first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy on October 31, 2023. He said this clearly demonstrated to the world that cities in the Kingdom of Cambodia have diverse potential and can compete regionally and globally.
He added that, following Battambang’s example, the Ministry of Tourism had recently held a consultation workshop on June 24, 2026, to prepare an application for Kampot province to join UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network in gastronomy. He expressed hope that Kampot city would become Cambodia’s second UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy after Battambang.
The minister also noted that on June 30, 2026, the ministry held a workshop on tourism diplomacy and gastronomy tourism linked to culinary diplomacy. It aimed to gather input from relevant ministries, institutions and the private sector to develop a new strategy for promoting gastronomy tourism, which the ministry considers an effective soft-power tool for enhancing Cambodia’s reputation and presenting its tourism potential to the world.
By: ធី លីថូ
