Sihanoukville not to be a gambling hotbed, vows the army chief

A ranking military officer from Cambodia has vowed to protect Sihanoukville from becoming the next Macau despite the fact it has given the south-west city an injection of tourism.

Hun Manet is the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Chief of Joint Staff and he has made the vow amidst elevating tensions over the large number of casino jobs being given to Chinese citizens, which primarily service tourists from the neighbouring country, with locals not allowed to gamble at the venues.

Sihanoukville residents mentioned that the enhanced investment from China has increased the land prices and have made a closed economic loop that has closed down businesses and increased unemployment of locals in the area.

The Khmer Times reports Manet has told local officials to concentrate on uplifting the image of Sihanoukville as a tourist destination and not a gambling haven for the Chinese.

Sihanoukville gave entry to one million local tourists and 470,000 foreign visitors in the year 2017. This includes 120,000 visitors from China.

Sihanoukville has got 16 operational casinos and nine more are anticipated to open this year. The hotel sector in Sihanoukville will open 1000 new rooms.

The government of Cambodia has included a task force to handle the issues arising from the investments from the Chinese in Sihanoukville.

The investigative body mentioned it has yet to get a solitary report of illegal complaints against Chinese tourists.