Siem Reap Tourism Hots Up
As competition continues to heat up in Siem Reap, it is more important than ever that new businesses think outside the box, entrepreneurs advise. Visitors to Temple Town continue to rise as the town attracts an ever-growing number of tourists. To cater to the boom, hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars, and boutiques have been opening their doors across the town at a rapid rate. However, while this has led to more variety, it has also come hand-in-hand with increased competition, making the market much tougher than it was five years ago, claims veteran entrepreneur Lim Nam, who owns Angkor Night Market and the King’s Road Angkor shopping and dining complex.
He says, “The most noticeable change has been there have been a lot more boutique hotels opening. It has got to the point where you’re no longer sure what a boutique hotel is. This means that one problem that we do potentially face is an overload of hotels all offering the same thing.” The key to success in today’s bustling Siem Reap is to “come up with a creative concept,” he suggests. “Create something unique in the city; something that hasn’t been done before. Don’t just copy what other people have done successfully.”
Awen Delaval, who has been running Samatoa in Siem Reap and Battambang for 11 years, echoes the thought that the market is becoming saturated. “It’s clearly a lot more difficult today for a new company to open and succeed than five years ago,” he says. “This is for many reasons including land prices, renting fees are usually twice as much now than five years ago and lease lengths are often limited to five years instead of 10 years like before. Competition is also a lot higher.” He adds that established businesses that have been operating in the town for more than five years seem to have found the recipe to success, having survived external problems such as Thai political instability, Thai-Cambodian border problems, financial crisis, social unrest in Phnom Penh, flooding, and mystery illnesses.
“The impact is that many businesses have to reconsider their activity or simply close,” he adds. “It then creates a selection, keeping alive the healthy businesses and only letting the stronger become bigger.” Delaval says another major problem is encouraging businesses to protect the environment, calling it a “challenge that gets bigger every year.” “A huge problem created by the increase of hotels and golf resorts is the ecological threat, mainly for the sustainability of water resources in Siem Reap,” he says. However, he believes that with the right businesses and owners, Siem Reap and the surrounding area and economy could blossom and truly benefit from the vast development of Temple Town.