A new duty-free shop opened by China Duty Free Group (CDFG) in southwestern Cambodia's Sihanoukville will boost the tourism industry in the coastal resort, local media reported Wednesday, citing a senior official.
Preah Sihanouk provincial deputy governor Sam Sam At said the CDFG duty-free shop, which opened on Dec. 30, showed confidence in the surging number of tourists, especially Chinese nationals, to the province.
"Sihanoukville has been attracting more foreign tourists every year," he was quoted by the Khmer Times as saying.
He said that around 1.5 million foreign tourists visited the province last year, up about 15 percent from 1.3 million in 2014. By nationality, Chinese tourists were at the top of the list.
CDGF, one of the biggest state-owned enterprises in China, opened its first subsidiary outside of China with a duty-free shop in northwestern Cambodia's Siem Reap province in August 2014.
Shopping traffic at Angkor Duty Free Store has nearly reached 20 million people since then, officials said previously. The complex has created more than 300 jobs and generated more than 300 million U.S. dollars in tax revenue for the government, officials said.
According to the official figures, some 573,287 Chinese tourists visited Cambodia in the first nine months of 2015, a 26-percent rise compared to the same period in 2014.
