Skift Take
The day of reckoning has come for Sihanoukville as an exodus of Chinese nationals and other tourists occurs. A correction should follow, but can the once popular town regain its soul?
Once a sleepy, entrancing seaside resort in southwest Cambodia, Sihanoukville is sleepy again, bereft of Chinese nationals and tourists who have left following the closure of dozens of casinos in the city. This was a result of a government ban on all online and arcade gambling operations in the kingdom, which came into effect in January.
Fears of a coronavirus outbreak virtually completed the exodus, with reports of only 10 to 20 percent of Chinese nationals remaining, and few tourist arrivals from mainland China.
Many Asian places are feeling the pain of being too China-dependent in current times, but Sihanoukville has taken the cake as probably the most wretched. Its problem isn’t overtourism but development that destroys its status as a tourism jewel, critics say. It also isn’t so much about China dependency as it is about China centricity that squeezes out locals and other nationalities.
Named after former king and father of modern Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk, Sihanoukville’s string of golden beaches and simple living made it a magnet for, as usual, first backpackers, then well-traveled Western tourists. But in a short stretch of time since 2017, its fishing village-feel changed beyond recognition as a result of massive Chinese investments in the city. The surge brought in thousands of Chinese employees, which in turn saw hotels, apartments, restaurants, signages, entertainment venues and other services centered on Chinese needs — apart from turning the city into a perpetual construction site.
Sihanoukville is “a landmark project” on China’s Belt and
