Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Straitlaced Singapore recently gave up its laws against gambling and legalized the activ-
ity, joining the race for tourist dollars in Southeast Asia. After watching Cambodia and
Macao attract planeloads of gambling tourists, Singapore approved the construction of two
casinos that opened in 2010 and rival any palace in Macao. Resorts World Sentosa advert-
ises itself as an “eco-resort and casino” and was designed by the famed American architect
Michael Graves. Singapore officials said they expect Asia's gamblers to spend enough at
the two casinos—Sentosa and the Marina Bay Sands—to boost Singapore's GDP by $2.5
billion, or nearly 1 percent.
While Cambodia's border regions are now studded with casinos, only one has been al-
lowed in Phnom Penh. The government gave Chen Lip Keong, a Malaysian businessman
and senior economic advisor to Hun Sen, the exclusive license for a casino in Phnom
Penh through 2035. He built NagaWorld, a splashy casino resort on multiple lots along the
city's waterfront district in 2003. The neon-lit façade of the NagaWorld now flashes across
the boulevards and rivers and attracts Chinese gamblers as well as Vietnamese, Thais and
Malaysians.
It is also a sore point for Cambodians, who are unhappy that Chen has the gambling
monopoly in Phnom Penh. NagaWorld made $35 million in profits in 2010, according to
its listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Local Cambodian newspapers have editori-
alized that NagaWorld openly violates the law against locals gambling and “is operating to
extract money from people addicted to gambling in Cambodia, earning colossal profits.”
• • •
Cambodia has become a new center for sex tourism. Bangkok in neighboring Thailand
was a pioneer in tourism for sex beginning in the 1960s, when American soldiers took their
rest and rehabilitation, or R & R, in the Thai capital along the infamous Patpong red-light
district. The bars offered risqué sex shows and young girls waiting to be chosen for the
night. The soldiers returned home to the United States with stories, and diseases, from that
strip where everyone seeking flesh was welcome for a small price.
Sex tourism spread beyond Patpong, throughout Bangkok, and became part of package
tours in Thailand. Advertisements began appearing in Europe and Asia like this one from
Roise Reisen of Germany: “Thailand is a world full of extremes and the possibilities are
unlimited . . . especially when it comes to girls. Still it appears to be a problem for visitors
in Thailand to find the right places where they can indulge in unknown pleasures. It is
frustrating to have to ask in broken English where you can pick up pretty girls. Roise has
done something about this. For the first time in history, you can book a trip to Thailand
with erotic pleasures included in the price.”
Yoko Kusaka, a Japanese anthropologist, examining why Japanese men were attracted
to sex tours to Bangkok found they were looking for easy sex without humiliation. Japanese
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