More small scale Chinese businesses are opening up on the islands off the coast of Sihanoukville as Western businesses continue to close with owners blaming high rents and falling Western tourists for the changing demographic.

 

The reports come after the Royal Group, one of the largest investment companies in Cambodia, announced in 2019 a $285 million investment project had been agreed for the island of Koh Rong. The investment project is a joint venture between Royal Group and Chinese-owned Royal Galaxy Group to build a resort that consists of five-star hotels, convention centres, duty-free shops, supermarkets and 600 villas.

 

Jake Scott, the business owner of Bongs Guesthouse M’Pai Bay in Koh Rong Samloem said: “Most of us [current business owners] arrived at Koh Rong in the early 2010s to establish our businesses. Backpackers always want to find the next big thing and it was probably around 2018 that people started looking for other beaches to stay on. With that, Koh Tui on Koh Rong had run its course for the Westerners. The Chinese have moved into the shells that were left behind and are hopefully going to revive the local economy.”

 

read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50744114/more-chinese-development-on-sihanoukvilles-islands/

4 hours ago, geovalin said:

The investment project is a joint venture between Royal Group and Chinese-owned Royal Galaxy Group to build a resort that consists of five-star hotels, convention centres, duty-free shops, supermarkets and 600 villas.

If I am not mistaken, Hen San owns the Royal Group.  There is not much in the way of duty in Cambodia anyway.  Perhaps they should try to attract the yachting community.  These grandiose things cannot survive on their own, as they lack character and charm.     

43 minutes ago, yellowboat said:

If I am not mistaken, Hen San owns the Royal Group.  There is not much in the way of duty in Cambodia anyway.  Perhaps they should try to attract the yachting community.  These grandiose things cannot survive on their own, as they lack character and charm.     

You are mistaken.

Disgraceful 

China owns Cambodia.  Sad but true.  Let’s hope we never say this about Thailand.

It was only a matter of time before westerners were booted out of the Koh Rong islands too, after they were effectively evicted from Sihanoukville starting around 2017.

This is the up and coming tourist resort at the moment, especially with domestic tourism. No Chinese. Quote from Khmer Times:-

 

He said that Kampot has four main tourism destinations to attract tourists. Among them:  the countryside experiences to the east of Kampot town with its salt and pepper farms, temples, the Sarus crane bird areas, Kampong Trach cave;  Kampot heritage with its museum, old town town, and night market and food street; river life, where visitors can see the lives of people along the Prek Toek Chhou river via boat; Bokor National Park.

Kampot has 21 hotels and around 300 guesthouses and bungalows with 4,000 rooms, with more than 200 restaurants and other services.

There's more than one way to conquer a country without shedding any blood. 

Just buy it one piece at a time.