Tourists visiting Cambodia in the next few years may be able to enter China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar without needing additional visas, local media in Phnom Penh reported on Tuesday.

It was said that Cambodia and the five nations agreed last week to begin a feasibility study.

"We have a plan to practice a common visa as European countries are doing," The Cambodia Daily quoted the ministry's Secretary of State Thong Khon as saying.

"If you get a [Greater Mekong Subregion] visa in Cambodia or any one of [the other] countries, you will be able to travel freely," he added.

Thong Khon hopes that a single visa will help attract even more visitors. The number of tourists arriving in Cambodia increased from about 800,000 in 2003 to 1 million in 2004.

"With a common visa and improvement of transportation access, Cambodia expects to reach 6 million tourists a year by 2010," Thong Khon said.

Asia Development Bank tourism project director Tith Chandtha predicted that the heads of states of the six nations will approve a plan for a single visa by the end of 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2005)