Capitalizing on increased tourism from the Chinese, Shenzhen Win-Win Decoration and Designing is planning to develop 100 budget hotels in Cambodia.
According to the Khmer Times, Shenzhen Win-Win Decoration and Designing President Tao Jia told Tourism Minister Thong Khon that the company would invest in hotels in both Phnom Penh and coastal provinces. “The company will bring its experience of Shenzhen province to Cambodia and share its knowledge of the hotel industry,” Tao said.
Khon stated that he supported the company's investment in Cambodia as the country's tourism industry still has major potential for new investment. The company could do a feasibility study, especially in coastal areas and some islands, he said, noting that the government has organized a coastal development committee of tourism and environment ministry officials to zone land.
Taing Sochet Krisna, director of Preah Sihanouk’s provincial tourism department, said during the meeting that Preah Sihanouk has thousands of hotel rooms and guesthouses open, but the province still needs more investment to meet the rising number of tourists. “I think it is very important to have more investment in the hotel industry here because we have very high potential," Sochet Krisna said. "We have an increase of more than 15 percent of tourists every year so we need more accommodation." He said that the number of Chinese visitors has grown significantly after the government set a goal to attract 2 million Chinese tourists per year. “Investment in budget hotels in my province will play an important role to serve tourists and make them extend their stay here,” Sochet Krisna added. The province currently has about 80 hotels with over 4,000 rooms and over 300 guesthouses.
Data from the Tourism Ministry has reported that about 126 million Chinese tourists visited different destinations around the world. Meanwhile, 20 million of those Chinese tourists visited ASEAN nations. Early this year, Cambodia had 273,000 Chinese visitors, up 25 percent from the approximately 217,000 from the same period in 2016. There currently are 94 direct flights per week between Cambodia and China. 51 of those flights fly to Phnom Penh, 31 flights fly to Siem Reap and 12 flights fly to Sihanoukville.