ONLY about 10 percent of Cambodia’s 450 hotels have received a star rating under the Ministry of Tourism’s new hotel classification system, but all must be rated by the end of next year or risk fines and losing their licences, an official has warned.

“It seems that they [hotel owners] have understood our directive and how important classification is. We are committed to having all hotels in Cambodia classified,” Prak Chan Dara, director of the Ministry of Tourism’s Tourism Industry Department, said yesterday.

As of this month, only 47 of the Kingdom’s 450 licensed hotels have registered for the star rating and another 36 have submitted applications for classification. A sub-decree setting out the directive was first issued in 2004.

Of the 47 hotels, 31 are in Siem Reap, 11 in Phnom Penh and the remaining five are in other provinces.

Earlier this year, the Tourism Ministry issued an additional directive, requiring hotel owners to apply for the star rating when they renew their annual operating licence, Mr. Prak said.

Failure to comply will also have financial penalties, he said.

“If we find hotels have not received the star rating they will be fined between 2 million riel and 20 million riel [US$475 to $4,750] as well as have their annual operating licence cancelled,” he said.