(Or people who were going to Thailand for some other reason anyway and pick a flight that routes like that.)

I will be moving to Siem Reap purely for the air links.
If SV had 1/10th of the connectivity- even a route to bangkok it would be no contest.
Agreed- different for tourists.

"I'm not certain (as I'm too lazy to get on Google), but I believe Las Vegas subsides, or did at one time at least, the flights there.

I can remember when flights to Las Vegas were ridiculously cheap. Like, almost free to fly to from my city, when other routes that were just as busy and closer we at least double the price." .............IMO, they were probably subsidizing the hotels not the flights. For me, from SFO or OAK it was as cheap to book a flight/hotel package with America West or Southwest S-Th as it was to fly there.

When Pattaya started to flood with Russians the main reason was allowing direct charter flights from Russia to nearby U-Tapao. The planes would then sit there the whole 2 weeks and then ship the tourists home, that was the start of the Russian boom. Added to that the relocation of the main airport to the Pattaya side of Bangkok and the resultant only 2 hour road trip on new highways built over the previous 10 years. Massive impact.

What attracts Russians ? From what I see it's a combination of sun-bathing, shopping ( Central Festival and the wide range of local markets are packed with them ) is a major factor, visits to the rather lame in my opinion tourist attractions, and the variety of dining and nightlife options.

I'm sceptical that a decent combination of that can be offered in Sihanoukville on a decent scale in anything but the medium to longer term. I would say that mix of offering, or rather the lack of it, could easily be applied to other large target tourist markets. It would be interesting to know what the Russian friend that Tim Linkinwater mentioned hears from his Russian customers as the main negative feedback.

Cowshed Cowboy wrote:What attracts Russians ? From what I see it's a combination of sun-bathing, shopping ( Central Festival and the wide range of local markets are packed with them ) is a major factor, visits to the rather lame in my opinion tourist attractions, and the variety of dining and nightlife options.

Shopping! This would make tourists and expats alike happy. What there is now is about 12 stores offering mostly the same crappy sundresses and shit jewelry. Get a decent shopping center here with some real variety and you might see some much happier women, and the retailers would be happy too with the tourists dumping money in.

Cowshed Cowboy wrote: It would be interesting to know what the Russian friend that Tim Linkinwater mentioned hears from his Russian customers as the main negative feedback.

Shop shop shoppiiing!

(Oh and obviously bogan bar-keeps).

OrangeDragon wrote:

Cowshed Cowboy wrote:What attracts Russians ? From what I see it's a combination of sun-bathing, shopping ( Central Festival and the wide range of local markets are packed with them ) is a major factor, visits to the rather lame in my opinion tourist attractions, and the variety of dining and nightlife options.

Shopping! This would make tourists and expats alike happy. What there is now is about 12 stores offering mostly the same crappy sundresses and shit jewelry. Get a decent shopping center here with some real variety and you might see some much happier women, and the retailers would be happy too with the tourists dumping money in.

I was actually extremely doubtful of the viability that a major beachside shopping centre would have on the town, other than snarling the traffic, ( seems to be the case with Aeon in PP as well by coincidence ), but it really has helped change the tourist demographic and positive for residents as well. I know, who goes on holiday to shop, but a huge number of tourists clearly do.
It may ruin the feel of Sihanoukvile for the purists but unfortunately it's inevitable as a resort develops.

OrangeDragon wrote:There are easily a dozen 3-4 star hotels in Shv. And the only people who travel via Thailand do so from the western side. From the eastern side the planes travel via Malaysia/Korea/Singapore.

Get out.

There are 2 hotels which would have a pop at international 4 star status.

I'm happy about that. I liked the place best when the streets ran with the effluvium of heroin and stick brothels, but that's gone and it hasn't become Koh Samui fine dining and infinity pools in the meantime.

Anyway, I'll be down there in the morning. Wahey.

PhnomRon wrote:I think Sihanoukville bar owners have been saying that Sihanoukville is about to really take off and be flooded in tourist money, for about fifteen years now.

Been thinking about this, and while I wasn't here 15, or even 5 years ago... I think it actually really HAS. Problem is that it's also been flooded with new businesses which dilute that money back down, which isn't a bad thing... it's growth, and generally growth leads to more growth with more businesses meaning more tourists and so on. But if you're just using how much money any given business owner makes as your litmus test, it won't look like growth at all until the increase in traffic outpaces the increase in businesses.

I think it is incredibly difficult to make any real money in Cambodia in the hospitality/bar/restaurant business, no matter how many tourists the country gets. Khmers will just start up competing businesses run on razor thin margins. You end up with a bunch of places that are barely profitable, because "barely profitable" is quite wealthy to a Khmer.