An archeological team prepares to restore the platform of Bakan tower at the Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia on Aug. 24, 2021. Cambodia's Apsara National Authority (ANA) is preparing to carry out a project to consolidate the platform of Bakan tower at the famed Angkor Wat temple, a spokesman said on Tuesday. (Apsara National Authority/Handout via Xinhua)
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Apsara National Authority (ANA) is preparing to carry out a project to consolidate the platform of Bakan tower at the famed Angkor Wat temple, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
"The project will run for five years with the aim of consolidating the platform of Bakan tower after the stones separated," ANA's spokesman Long Kosal told Xinhua. "We are studying the shape of stones in order to divide them into the right category, so it is easy when we put the stones back together."
Kosal said that the condition of the platform of Bakan tower at the Angkor Wat temple has been partially torn down and the team will prepare to get the stones back to their original position.
He said the restoration project will not affect tourists' visits because it will be divided into phases.
An archeological team from the ANA's Department of Conservation of Monuments in the Angkor park held a traditional ceremony last week to pray for safety and success in the restoration work, Kosal said.
Located in northwest Siem Reap province, the Angkor Archeological Park, inscribed on the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1992, is the kingdom's most popular tourist destination.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the site attracted up to 2.2 million international tourists in 2019, earning a gross revenue of 99 million U.S. dollars from ticket sales.
The park received only 5,776 foreigners in the first seven months of 2021, down 98.5 percent over the same period last year, the Angkor Enterprise said, adding that it earned a gross revenue of 238,022 U.S. dollars from ticket sales during the January-July period this year, also down 98.7 percent.
Ministry of Tourism's secretary of state and spokesman Top Sopheak said the remarkable drop in the number of foreign visitors was due to the pandemic that had forced the Southeast Asian nation to suspend tourist visas to all foreign citizens since March last year.
"We hope that Cambodia will be able to reopen its door to fully vaccinated foreign tourists by the end of this year after the country has achieved herd immunity," he told Xinhua. Enditem
