Cambodia's New Tourism Rules Include $3,000 Entry Deposit to Cover Coronavirus Costs — Including Your Funeral

Want to travel to Cambodia right now? Sure, you can, but you’ll have to pay a hefty deposit first.

Like many nations, Cambodia is figuring out just what its tourism future looks like in a world dealing with coronavirus. But, rather than limit guests or ban tourism altogether, it came up with a new idea. And that new idea includes travelers plunking down a $3,000 travel deposit before entering the country to cover any coronavirus-related costs while you’re there.

Business Insider reported, the Cambodian Ministry of Health recently unveiled its new fees for entering the country, all of which are meant to cover the cost of testing for the virus as well as covering any in-country expenses if someone should contract the virus while there.

As the Ministry broke down, the test for coronavirus costs about $165 in total. That includes the cost of the test and the cost of three meals and a night at a hotel while the visitor awaits the result.

Then, it broke down the cost of a two-week quarantine if the traveler tests negative but happened to be on a flight with someone who tested positive. That cost, it noted, would be around $1,281 per person, which includes a hotel stay, meals, laundry, and any medical needs.

And, if the traveler themselves test positive the Ministry estimates a hospital stay to be around $330 per day.

Lastly, if a person were to come into the country and contract coronavirus and die the Ministry estimates the cost of a funeral to be about $1,500.

But don’t worry, if you’re a traveler who goes to Cambodia and tests negative you’d only be charged for the test and will be reimbursed for the remaining deposit. But still, as the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia says, you need to be prepared to float the upfront cost of the entire deposit.

According the U.S. Embassy, Cambodia has only had 129 confirmed cases of coronavirus during the pandemic.