‘They only go to Chinese shops’: why Cambodia’s influx of mainland tourists is causing tensions
- More than 1.27 million Chinese tourists visited the country in the first eight months of 2018, a 72 per cent increase over the same period in 2017
- But locals say Chinese-owned businesses are benefiting most from the surge
More than 1.27 million Chinese tourists visited Cambodia in the first eight months of 2018, a 72 per cent increase on the same period in 2017. But not all local business owners are happy.
In Siem Reap, the tourism hub and launching point for trips to the famous Angkor Wat temple complex, some are quick to lament the shift towards a market based mostly on Chinese visitors.
Channy Murphy, owner of Mad Murphy’s Irish Pub – a one-room bar situated not far from Siem Reap’s famous Pub Street – said she has seen her mostly Western clientele slowly disappear.
Throughout the early 2000s, Cambodia’s top markets for tourism were dominated by Western countries, with the US, France and the UK ranking near the top. Now, these nationalities have largely been supplanted by visitors from countries like South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and China.
Last year, Cambodia hosted upwards of 5 million tourists and the industry accounted for 32.4 per cent of the country’s GDP. It has plans to increase the number of visitors to 12 million by 2025.