PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- A multimillion-dollar golf course has opened near Cambodia's famed Angkor temples to attract much-needed tourist revenues for the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, officials said.
The 308-acre Phokeethra Country Club is being touted as the only international-standard golf course in Cambodia. The 18-hole, 72-par course is 14 miles outside Siem Reap town in northwest Cambodia.
"Basically with the golf course, we are adding another feature" for visitors to the temples, said Maximilian Kaendler, a club manager.
Cambodia now has three golf courses, including two near Phnom Penh, the capital. A fourth, also in Siem Reap, is under construction.
The Angkor temples are "still the most important things that people come for, but at the same time we provide another, after the temples, a reason to stay longer," Kaendler said.
Thong Khon, Cambodia's deputy tourism minister, said the course is affiliated with Thai Nakorn Patana Co. Ltd., a Thai company that is also a partner in the Sofitel Royal Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap.
The total investment for the golf course was $10 million, said Ridwan Heriyadi, a manager at the Siem Reap hotel.
Tourism is a major foreign currency earner for cash-strapped Cambodia. There were 1.4 million foreign arrivals last year, with the largest number of visitors from South Korea, Japan and the United States. More than half of the tourists visited the Angkor temples.
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