Himawari Hotel Apartments celebrated its 22nd anniversary on Friday to show its willingness to serve customers after experiencing one of the most difficult times due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Teo Lay Cheng, Singapore Ambassador to Cambodia; Ermenegildo Kupa Lopes, Ambassador of Timor-Leste to the Kingdom, and around 300 guests from the public and private sectors attended the anniversary ceremony.

Andrew Tay, Manager of Himawari Hotel Apartments, welcomed guests and said that Himawari would constantly strive to provide excellent accommodation and service to maintain its position as one of the leading five-star apartments in the world. Cambodia.

“Cambodia is now reopening; we must be ready to welcome guests from abroad and in particular investors. I hope we can welcome more investors to Cambodia to invest. This is my most immediate plan,” said Andrew Khmer time on the sidelines of the ceremony.

Andrew – who is also vice-president of the Cambodia Hotel Association – said the Cambodian hospitality industry would need more interventions on top of the $150 million package the government released mid-last month to revive the tourism sector.

“I think the industry will definitely need more because it would take time across the industry. The recovery will start by the end of this year, or the full recovery could happen next year, but $150 million is a good start for hotels to restart operations,” he said.

Himawari would not seek funding from the $150 million intervention program, said Andrew, who is also president of the Singapore Club Cambodia.

“For my hotel apartments, we are lucky not to need a loan. But this government initiative is a big help for the industry as it would help those in need to get started, employ people and run their business,” he said.

However, Ly Thuch said some countries still maintained the health restrictions, especially China, from where tourists used to visit Cambodia. The war between Russia and Ukraine has affected the European economy and tourists from this area would always be difficult.

“At the end of this year, it would depend on how each country in the world opens up, while Cambodia has completely opened up. Maybe next year, tourists from all over the world will visit the Cambodia,” he said.

When announcing the $150 million intervention package last month, Finance Minister Aun Pornmoniroth said it included $75 million from the government through SME Bank and $75 million from other financial institutions.

Tourism in Cambodia is expected to grow by 16% in 2022 and 23% in 2023 with active government intervention.

In 2019, before Covid-19, the Kingdom generated approximately $4.9 million in gross revenue from international tourist arrivals, representing 4.4% of GDP. However, the pandemic has had a negative impact on the tourism sector in 2020 and 2021, Pornmoniroth said.

Tourism is the main engine of economic growth in the country, and the government is committed to supporting, restoring and developing this industry. He stressed that the industry would become a pillar of the national economy by creating jobs and income.

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