More hotels for Phnom Penh

Construction of a 16-storey Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel should be completed in 2011.

Situated on the east bank of the river on the Chhroy Changva peninsula in Phnom Penh's Russey Keo district, the Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel will feature 799 rooms with two conference halls with a seating capacity for 1,500 persons.

The new Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel will be the third five-star hotel operated by Sokimex in Cambodia, joining Sokha hotels in Sihanoukville and Siem Reap. Two more are on the drawing boards.

The new hotel will provide up-scale accommodation for tourists in the capital city, where tourism authorities claim there is still a lack of supply.

According to the Tourism Ministry, in 2007, Phnom Penh has 137 hotels with 6,407 rooms. Government official report, high-end hotel rooms serving luxury and business travellers is failing to keep up with annual tourism growth.

Ministry of Tourism, director general, Kousoum Saroeuth, estimates that there is a shortage of about 1,500 hotel rooms in Phnom Penh, mainly for high-end hotels, and of about 1,500 rooms in Sihanoukville due to tourist growth and the business boom.

Currently, Cambodia has about 350 hotels with approximately 20,000 rooms nationwide, including 140 in Phnom Penh, 100 in Siem Reap and about 50 in Sihanoukville, with the rest in other provinces.