Phnom Penh (AsiaNews) – The king of Cambodia, Norodom Sihmoni, has inaugurated a hotel school animated by the Salesians in Sihanoukville. For the king, it was an opportunity to go for the first time to the city, a flourishing tourist centre, which bears his father’s name.

According to Eglises d’Asie, Fr Robert Panetto, who runs the hotel school, told the king that the institution has 50 students who are either orphans or who come from poor families. They join over 300 students of the Don Bosco technical school who study mechanics, electrical engineering, administration and tourism.

King Sihamoni told the boys to “work hard” and to “observe the principles of the school and respect the teachers, so they will get a formation that will be contribute to the development of the country.”

The hotel school is situated 2km away from the renowned Ochheuteal Beach and has 19 rooms that will be let to tourists for 30/35 dollars per night. Fr Panetto said this will be a way to support, at least partly, the costs of running the school, seeing that the students are not fee paying.