‘Simply a rare sight’, thousands of tourists gather at Cambodia’s Angkor Wat to watch equinox sunrise

SIEM REAP, Cambodia (Xinhua): More than 37,000 tourists rallied in front of Cambodia’s iconic Angkor Wat temple here early Saturday morning to see the stunning sunrise during the spring equinox, the APSARA National Authority said in a news release.

“A total of 37,003 tourists, including 33,500 domestic and 3,503 foreign tourists, witnessed the sunrise of the spring equinox at the Angkor Wat in the morning of March 22,” the news release said.

On the occasion, visitors can see the sun rising perfectly aligned with the Angkor Wat temple’s central tower.

Tourism Minister Huot Hak said the spring equinox this year occurred from Friday to Sunday.

Angkor Wat is one of the major temples in the UNESCO-listed Angkor Archaeological Park in northwest Siem Reap province.

The 401-square-kilometer park is home to 91 ancient temples, which had been built from the ninth to the 13th centuries.

The South-East Asian country’s most popular tourist destination attracted a total of 1.02 million international tourists in 2024, generating a gross revenue of US$47.8 million from ticket sales, according to the state-owned Angkor Enterprise.

The tourism ministry noted that the equinox occurs twice per year, in March and in September. – Xinhua