A single visa allowing tourists to visit both Cambodia and Thailand is in the works, a local newspaper reported on Thursday.

"The deal is in process," Tourism Ministry Secretary of State Thong Khon was quoted by The Cambodia Daily as saying. He said a recent meeting between interior and tourism ministry officials had decided to seek a common visa policy with Thailand to allow tourists to travel between both countries on one visa.

The visa pact with Thailand would be profitable for Cambodia's tourism sector even though the 20-US-dollar visa fee tourists currently pay in Cambodia would likely disappear, he said.

According to Thong Khon, the money spent by tourists visiting Cambodia because of the new visa deal would easily surpass the amount of money lost in visa charges.

In the first eight months of 2005, a total of 910,000 visitors came to Cambodia, compared to 1 million in all of 2004. And the Tourism Ministry expects to receive a total of 1.3 million tourists by the end of the year.

Source: Xinhua