A $1,2 billion luxury city is being built in Cambodia as a tourist hotspot for Chinese. This Tourism Vacation Town will be featuring high-end hotels, offices and theme parks.
Chinese developer Tianjin Union Development Group (UDG) says the Tourism Vacation Town will be built on 1,200 hectares of land in Cambodia’s southwestern Koh Kong province. Details are scant, but building work is expected to begin next year.
The company has already started work on another $3.8bn resort in the same province, named Dara Sakor. In 2008 UDG was given a 99-year lease for land in Koh Kong to build Dara Sakor, which is expected to feature a port as well as attractions such as casinos. Many villagers have allegedly been displaced by the project, with some launching protests what they said were unlawful “land grabs”.
The 42 registered casinos in the city, with much more unregistered, cater almost exclusively to Chinese tourists and often employ substantial numbers of Chinese staff. The result of this investment has been an increase in prices for rent and property across the board, pushing many Cambodian tourism companies and employees out of the Sihankoukville market altogether.
Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen sees Chinese investment as vital for his country’s development, and such issues have not deterred him from embracing Beijing. In 2017 China invested $1.7bn in Cambodia, with president Xi Jinping giving money to Hun’s military as well as encouraging Chinese businesses to invest in the country.
In the first seven months of 2018, over 1 million Chinese tourists travelled to the Southeast Asian nation, representing growth of 72.6 percent year-on-year.
Sources: The Guardian, Jingtravel.com