News

Cambodia’s economy is expected to grow 6.5 per cent in 2012, up from 5.75 per cent last year, the International Monetary Fund said in its annual review, adding that government policies to boost the investment climate were paying off. However, in its assessment, which was released ...

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) launched its Cambodian chapter on Friday in the hope of further promoting the country’s second-largest sector by revenues. The sparsity of air routes to Cambodia was one of the main obstacles to the Kingdom’s tourism growth, PATA Cambodia chapter president ...

The foreign owner of a luxury Siem Reap hotel has sued four workers he sacked last year, alleging they damaged his property during protests in which they accused him of firing them for unionising. In total, 67 workers were sacked last year by Ankor Village Hotel ...

The Documentation Centre of Cambodia has joined a coalition of government ministries on an study tour to establish a tourism plan in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng district in Oddar Meanchey, officials said yesterday. Anlong Veng was the last stronghold for the Khmer ...

The Kingdom’s 27 casinos are set to generate about US$20 million in tax revenue for the government in 2011, a 25 per cent year-on-year increase, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. At least one government official, however, said the lack of a regulatory regime ...

Cambodia Association of Travel Agents president Ang Kim Eang yesterday released a statement denying all allegations of wrongdoing against him by some members of the association’s board who have called for his resignation. Last Wednesday, 11 of CATA’s 15 board members signed and thumb-printed a petition ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday outlined the government’s plans to spur economic growth in the northeast of the country through implementing a wide range of projects in sectors such as agriculture and the extractive industries. Rights workers have warned that little information on the plans for ...

Malaysia-based Air Asia will begin offering travel services in Cambodia, and may expand its flights to neighbouring countries, company officials said. The airline launched its first Air Asia Travel and Service Center in Phnom Penh yesterday. Air Asia will partner with tour operator Mekong Discovery. So Mara, ...

Year-end travelers have fully booked Sihanoukville province’s hotels and guesthouses for the first-ever Sea Festival, which is expected to attract thousands of visitors this year, tourism officials said. Tith Chantha, general director at the Ministry of Tourism, confirmed that all hotel and guesthouse rooms were booked ...

More than 250 villagers blocked National Road 48 yesterday in Koh Kong province while protesting against their eviction from their Kiri Sakor district homes, slowing traffic for more than eight hours, officials said Prom Sann, a representative for the villagers, said the protesters represented 250 families ...

Foreign tourist arrivals in the Kingdom increased by more than 15 per cent between January and October compared to the same period in 2010, Ministry of Tourism data showed. Officials attributed the arrival of 2.3 million foriegn visitors during the first 10 months of the year ...

Hundreds of people whose land has been swallowed by a giant Chinese tourism project on the coast of Koh Kong province will attempt to demonstrate their grievances today by blocking national roads 4 and 48, villagers and human rights workers said Protesters have been resisting China’s ...

A group of about 30 families in Koh Kong province’s Botum Sakor district said yesterday that they would continue to resist attempts to evict them in order to make way for a Chinese mega-tourism project, unless authorities improve their compensation offer. Villager Prum Sann said the ...

The Kingdom needs US$270 million to expand its three airports if the country is to meet its growing demand as a tourist destination, Cambodia Airport CEO Emmanuel Menanteau said yesterday. The total number of visitors passing through the Kingdom’s airports will approximately double every 10 years, ...

The Ministry of Rural Development yesterday called for increased investment to expand access to sanitation facilities in rural Cambodia as well as more awareness about the link between low rates of access to toilets and high rates of communicable disease. Cambodia ranked at the bottom of ...

Cambodia will require an additional 1,000 restaurants by 2020 to service the Kingdom’s growing tourism sector, Ministry of Tourism officials say. By 2020, seven million international visitors, and as many as 10 million domestic tourists, were expected to visit the country’s tourist destinations each year, Tith ...

Visitor arrivals to Cambodia saw a year-on-year increase of 15 percent in the first nine months of 2011, reaching more than 2 million people, according to new figures released by the Tourism Ministry yesterday. The figures showed that, from January to September, arrivals by air increased ...

Economic growth in Cambodia is being hampered by poor sanitation and hygiene, and rising food prices are leaving people struggling to afford basic produce for a balanced diet, according to a report released yesterday by the UN Development Program (UNDP). The UNDP’s 2011 Human Development Report ...

Myanmar Airways International (MAI) is slated for a November 2 launch of bi-weekly flights between Phnom Penh and Myanmar’s economic hub and former capital, Yangon, Cambodian Aviation officials said yesterday. The flights – on 162-seat A320 jets – will transfer in Siem Reap before continuing on ...

In a landmark ruling, the Siem Reap Municipal Court yesterday ordered a luxury hotel to reinstate 67 sacked workers – a legally binding decision that unionists have hailed as a great moment for the judicial system. The decision comes after more than two months of protests, ...

Ruling party Senator Ly Yong Phat has kept a promise to stop his company’s dredging operations on Koh Kong province’s Tatai river, relieved business owners and residents living along the waterway said yesterday. But provincial officials confirmed that as the senator’s dredging boats moved on to ...

Cambodia hosted the 3rd World Ecotourism Conference on October 3rd at the famous costal province—Preah Sihanouk—in an aim at developing the Asia Pacific region as a leading ecotourism destination. To celebrate the acceptance of the Cambodia costal zone (Preah Sihanouk Ville, Koh Kong, Kep and Kampot) ...

Foreign direct investment in the Kingdom soared 250 per cent year-on-year through August even despite the West’s economic woes, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said yesterday. A total of 87 projects worth US$5.6 billion were approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia during the ...

Bad weather scared tourists from Cambodian beaches and other popular travel destinations during a three-day national holiday, provincial tourism officials said yesterday. Preah Sihanouk province saw a 30 to 35 percent drop in tourist numbers during the Pchum Ben holiday, which ended Wednesday, Seng Kha, deputy ...