By Rann Reuy
Thursday, 03 May 2012
Phnom Penh Post
Kampot officials are looking to the Bokor Mountain Resort, a US$1
billion project that opens today, to drive tourism growth in the
burgeoning seaside destination.
The provincial Tourism Department
said the number of domestic visitors to Kampot had risen 120 per cent
to 338,000 in the first four months of this year, but the local
government expects that figure to increase significantly now the casino
complex is operating.
“I think that after the official opening,
it will be a top tourism attraction,” Kampot Tourism Department director
Soy Sinol said yesterday.
Kampot governor Khoy Khun Huor echoed
those sentiments, claiming the resort’s soft launch in late March had
been well received and numbers would continue to rise.
“Before [today] we just opened for occasional ceremonies, and there were a considerable numbers of guests,” Khoy Khun Huor said.
“So now that we’re open regularly, we expect those numbers will continue to rise.”
The resort would also create much-needed jobs in the province, Khoy Khun Huor added.
In
January, 2008, the government granted the Sokha Hotel Group, owned by
Sokimex Investment Group, a 99-year lease for the US$1 billion
development, the Post reported in March.
As
well as the casino, the project will include a 700-room, 18-storey,
five-star hotel, along with conference rooms, bars, wedding facilities
and two Arnold Palmer-designed golf courses.
Hundreds of houses
and villas were expected to dot the mountain by the time the project was
completed in about 15 years, the Post reported at the time.
Vietnamese-owned BIDC provided financing for the hotel, as well as for Sokha’s Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville projects.
Thansur
Bokor Highland Resort chief executive Dr Ngin Banal said yesterday that
so far, Cambodian tourists had outnumbered foreign visitors to the
mountain getaway. He assumed that trend would continue going forward.
“For the future market, local guests will lead the numbers compared with international guests,” Ngin Banal said.
In
March, he told the Post the resort’s primary target was the greater
Mekong region, including Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, with southern
China and Korea serving as secondary markets.
The number of
international visitors to Kampot jumped 29 per cent year-on-year in the
first four months of 2012 to 9,000 from 7,000 the year before,
statistics show.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rann Reuy at reuy.rann@phnompenhpost.com
5 comments:
any reason why the developer decided to not demolish the church, while other building was demolished. what is the story behind this?
Fucking yuons owned everythings in srokkhmer these days because of the Fucking
Cpp allowed them too.
4 May 2012 1:52 AM
The church really stands out. It is a landmark heritage, which will be on poster cards from this part of Kampot.
Foreign investors are bringing the dollars to SrokKhmers. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Singaporeans, Vietnamese, Australians, Europeans should all be welcome.
4 May 2012 6:51 AM
why other building demolished, not this old church? the old casino was significant?
4 May 2012 1:52 AM,
It is a landmark or heritage site.
In Battambang province, there are more French colonial buildings, but now are almost disappeared. When you mentioned about the Church on top of the mountain then I remembered about the Buddha statue which built in 507 AD, in Afghanistan was destroyed by Taliban regime. I think that is very bad idea, how about you?
Post a Comment