The ruling party won a landslide victory in polls that garnered both criticism and praise internationally, while the EU began the process of withdrawing access to its ‘EBA’ trade deal and Kem Sokha was released on bail.
More than 1.27 million Chinese tourists visited the country in the first eight months of 2018, a 72 per cent increase over the same period in 2017, but locals say Chinese-owned businesses are benefiting most from the surge.
The New York Times last January published a list of 52 places to go in 2018. Subtitled “a starter kit for escaping into the world,” the story was written around mid-2017 and put the “Cambodian Coast” in the number 13 spot. By December 2018, however, when the Times returned for a looksee, Sihanoukville just wasn’t quite the same.
From the ruling CPP’s sweeping election victory, to the conclusion of multiple, high-profile court cases and freedom granted by royal pardons to jailed activists, the year saw many intriguing developments, along with several tragedies that included a spate of deadly wine poisonings in Kratie province and the cover up of a murder.
Cambodia's economy enjoyed robust growth last year, driven by garment exports, construction and tourism, said a National Bank of Cambodia's statement on Thursday.
About 150 casinos are now in operation, up from 98 in 2017. In the coastal province of Sihanoukville alone there are 88. The law bans Cambodians from entering casinos. For PIME missionary, “it is difficult to assess the consequences of the trend because all this has happened so fast”.https://bit.ly/2RuBTw1;
