While Thai authorities seek to diversify foreign tourism beyond sexpots and seriously ponder 10 year visas for super-rich investors and retirees, neighboring Cambodia is preparing for a mass international influx starting soon. Cambodian premier and strongman Hun Sen has already liberalized immigration rules by abolishing compulsory medical insurance, pre-flight medical checks and even on-arrival health tests for fully-vaccinated foreign visitors. But that’s only the start.
More than 100 kilometers of new roads have been constructed in and around Siem Reap which is the gateway to the Unesco-listed Angkor Archaeological Park. An investment of US$150 million has seen the thoroughfares equipped with modern street lighting, traffic lights and security cameras. Much of the old town will be totally unfamiliar to the 2022 visitor although the internationally-famous Pub Street remains. Hun Sen has described Siem Reap province as the rising star of the kingdom, especially the ancient temples which attracted 2.2 million foreigners in 2019 and produced US$100 million from ticket sales alone.
Meanwhile, a brand new 700-hectares international airport is under construction, funded by the Chinese investment company Yunnan Holdings, which is scheduled to open late next year about 50 kilometers from Siem Reap. Press releases say it is designed to protect the Angkor Wat World Heritage Site – the current airport produces too much environmental damage and attacks temple foundations – and to double tourist numbers becoming the “new Thailand”.
A new US$1.5 billion airport to serve the capital Phnom Penh is also under construction and is scheduled to be completed by 2025. It will be the ninth largest airport by area in the entire world. Plans are also afoot to improve Sihanoukville international airport which serves a beach resort and is the casino hub for the entire country. Cambodia’s tourism ministry predicts that international passengers to the country as a whole will be 12 million by the mid-decade, double the 2019 total.
Phnom Penh travel agent Doun Visith says that 30,000 foreign visitors visited Cambodia during the recent April water-festival celebrations, mostly flying in from Thailand and Singapore. “This is slower than you would expect, but there is currently no Chinese tour market and the land borders with Thailand remain closed to tourist traffic.” He cautiously added, “But Cambodia will never allow the tourist industry to be based on the former Thai model of go-go clubs, seedy bars with rooms by the hour and rude transvestite cabarets.” If he’s right, it looks like the sex tourist has become an endangered species.
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