Cambodia's seaside airport near Sihanoukville is slated to become the
country's largest as a new focus is placed on bringing tourists into the area,
Tourism Minister Thong Khon said. "We project that Sihanoukville will be a
well-developed city with potential in three areas: trade, industrial and
tourism," Thong Khon told AFP in an interview. "The plan of the government is
for this airport to be bigger" than Phnom Penh International Airport. A year
after its reopening, service at the Sihanoukville airport remains limited to
chartered domestic flights. Plans are underway to make it a regional travel hub,
with the first phase of a $200 million expansion expected to be completed by
March. The airport, some 230 kilometers southwest of Phnom Penh, had been closed
since the early 1980s due to financial difficulties. Direct flights between Siem
Reap and foreign cities have led to increased tourism and officials hope the
south beaches will benefit from a similar increase if air links are improved.
Some 100,000 people visited Sihanoukville last year, Thong Khon said, adding
that the government aimed to attract one million people by 2015. Tourist
arrivals to Cambodia topped two million in 2007, up 20 percent from the previous
year. the minister said the projection is for 2.4 million this year. (Source:
AFP)
