Since 2013 to 2019, a total of 47 hotel project applications for environmental permits have been filed with the Environmental Quality Protection Board (EQPB).
The total number of rooms from the 47 hotel applications is 4,138. Of this number of hotel project applicants, 36 have received approval permits from EQPB. The 36 hotel projects approved represents 2,133 rooms.
Out of the 36 hotels approved, 20 are either under construction or already operational. These represents 773 rooms. 14 of the projects approved have not started construction they consist of 1,296 rooms.
The remaining 11 hotel applications still undergoing approval process comprises 2005 rooms.
The number of applications correlates with years they were filed. In 2013, there were only 2 applications filed. In 2014, the number of applications increased to 4. In 2015, the number of applications nearly tripled with 11 applications filed. In 2016, 12 applications were filed and in 2017 it dropped to 7 applications. 2018 another 7 were filed and in 2019, only 5 were filed.
Based on the information provided by Environmental Quality Protection Board and just from the names of the company 20 were clearly China based investments. 20 were local companies and 7 include Korean, Japanese and multinational corporations. This is primarily based on owners or local contact listed but does not fully reflect full ownership. (L.N. Reklai)