Despite COVID19, the Kingdom of Cambodia has had many reasons to celebrate in the past 12 months.
In December, the country extracted its first drop of crude oil, and then in June its first commercial gold mining operation got underway in Mondulkiri province with aims of producing 3 tonnes of gold ore per year.
Construction of a brand new 60,000-seat national stadium in Phnom Penh was recently completed, and many other projects to improve the country's infrastructure and accessibility are currently underway, with many nearing completion.
To learn more about those projects and how COVID19 has impacted the hotel and tourism industry in Cambodia, Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com spoke with Richard Dusome, Managing Director of Dara Hotels, over Skype on 25 August 2021.
In this latest discussion, which follows their in person interview at the Cambodia Travel Mart in 2019, Richard tells us more about some of the important tourism-related infrastructure projects in Cambodia, how Dara Hotels has been impacted by the pandemic, whether the company has used the downtime to invest in properties, what the development pipeline is like now, and and what plans the company has for the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2022 which is currently scheduled to take place in Sihanoukville in January.
You will also discover how the country is looking to develop its domestic tourism industry, some of the challenges it faces in doing so, and which areas of the country Richard feels have the most potential for growth.
Richard also shares his thoughts on expanding the aviation sector in the country, which markets he would like to see airlines target, and how he believes COVID19 has changed leisure travel. All that and much, much more in the video.
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If you are interested in also watching the interview with Richard during the Cambodia Travel Mart in Phnom Penh in 2019, you can see that here:
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