YANGON, 7 May 2013: Myanmar’s government officials are talking
optimistically about attracting 3 million international tourist arrivals
by 2015 a sharp jump from slightly more than 1 million arrivals
recorded in 2012.
According to Hotels and Tourism Minister, U Htay Aung, the details
are in the draft Tourism Master Plan compiled by the Asian Development
Bank and funded by Norwegian government that will be presented to the
World Economic Forum (East Asia) scheduled to take place in Nay Pyi Taw
in June this year.
The country claims it is packed with fresh tourism products and
there is pent up travel demand after decades of sanctions that
discouraged a healthy tourism growth. These factors will drive growth.
Growth will be in two particular areas. Leisure travel will explode
as travellers satisfy their curiosity about a country that was virtually
closed to mass tourism for 30 plus years. But business travel is an
equally strong sector mainly driven by investors seeking opportunities
to exploit natural resources and win contracts to rebuild infrastructure
including hotels.
Hotel development will focus mainly on the commercial capital Yangon,
but there are also plans to build properties in the political capital
Nay Pyi Taw, in the country’s second largest city, Mandalay and Bagan an
iconic religious and historical destination that is waiting to gain
World Heritage status. Other towns where hotel investors are checking
out opportunities include Bago, Rakhine, Mawlamyine, Taunggyi,
Chaungtha and Ngwe Saung.
At present, there are around 36 hotels open or under construction that have foreign investment content.
The country will host the 27th Southeast Asian Games at the end of
this year and the ASEAN Summit and other related ASEAN events in 2014
when it will take over the chairmanship of ASEAN.
The ASEAN Tourism Forum will be hosted in Yangon in January 2015,
marking the first time the country has hosted the region’s top travel
trade show. It gave up the right to host the event in 2005 forcing the
ATF to relocate almost at the last minute to Cebu in the Philippines.
The main obstacles to travel at the moment are the lack of quality
hotels, poor land transport, a shortage of tour buses and a lack of tour
guides who can speak foreign languages. Prices for tours and hotels are
escalating, but standards still lag behind its neighbours.
Travellers demand convenience and expect that if a country opens its
doors to tourism it will also deliver a straightforward visa-on-arrival
process that works or better still offer visa-free stays.
The visa-on-arrival facility is far from clear cut and there are
preconditions that have to be satisfied such as having an invitation
letter from an organisation in the country. A visa takes about three to
five days to obtain from an embassy, but it saves time and potential
hassles at the port of entry.
Myanmar is the only ASEAN nation that does not apply the 14-day
visa-free entry for citizens of the 10-country bloc. Under the ASEAN
charter it is supposed to offer that privilege and in the lead-up to AEC
2015 ratification of visa-free entry will become more urgent as the
country prepares to assume the ASEAN chair in April 2014.
Myanmar attracted over 1 million foreign tourists to the country in
2012 the first time in history, an increase of 200,000 visits compared
with 2011. From 2009 to 2012, tourism income has almost tripled from
US$196 million to US$534 million.
source: TTR Weekly
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