Angkor theme park, Siem Reap ‘smart city’ to boost Cambodia tourism
- Cambodia’s Siem Reap province is looking to be less reliant on the Angkor Wat temples for tourism, with plans for several huge infrastructure projects
- A proposed theme park, however, has set alarm bells ringing among residents and environmental groups, given its location near the Unesco-listed temple complex
Few places in Asia are more synonymous with cultural tourism than Siem Reap, the Cambodian town having been the gateway to the Angkor Archaeological Park for many years before becoming a destination in its own right.
From provincial settlement to cosmopolitan money-spinner, “Temple Town” witnessed a meteoric rise in the 2010s as visitors succumbed en masse to its riverside charm, chic boutiques and warm hospitality. Although traveller numbers were already declining in 2019, nothing in Siem Reap’s short history has shaken its tourist industry like the Covid-19 pandemic.
The city of late 2020 – ironically coined “The Year of Tourism” by the government – is starting to resemble the dusty frontier town of 20 years ago.
While no coronavirus deaths and only a few hundred cases have been recorded in Cambodia, scores of restaurants and hotels in Siem Reap have closed temporarily or permanently – even household names such as Belmond, Sofitel and Raffles shut their doors – and thousands of hospitality sector jobs have been lost.