Inbound Tourism Booms: Official

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday, an official with Myanmar [Burma] Travels and Tours of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism said numbers of inbound tourists at the beginning of  the 2009-10 tourist season in the country was up over the previous year.

“Inbound tourists have increased by at least 30 percent. Last year, over 260,000 tourists visited the country, earning US $ 165 million,” he said, adding Burma’s tourism is returning to normal after Cyclone Nargis devastated Rangoon and the Irrawaddy Delta region of the country in May 2008.

In this photo taken Monday, Oct. 5, tourists take bullock cart rides in ancient city of Pagan, one of the tourist attractions, located in central Burma. (Photo: AP)

The official said most of the visitors at the start of this year's tourist season have come from German and France, while most Asian visitors are from China and Thailand.

“Most Chinese and Thai tourists come to Burma through border checkpoints along the Sino-Burmese and Thai-Burmese borders and only go to places near the border. They do not go Rangoon and other big cities in the middle of the country,” he said. “European tourists usually enter via Rangoon airport.”

The boost in tourism has also been confirmed by travel agencies in Rangoon. A staffer with a travel agency in the city said tourist agencies have been busy since September.

“Our agency has been dealing mostly with customers from Europe, particularly from Germany, this season,” the staffer said, speaking to the The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity.

The agency staffer said: “A 9-10 day package tour using five-star hotels costs about $ 1,700   but only about US $ 1,000 if a two or three-star hotel is used.

“Though everything is more expensive for tourists in Burma than in other countries, the increase in numbers has resulted in flights between Bangkok and Rangoon being fully-booked until January. People wanting to take flights are having to go on waiting lists,” she said.

The Union of Myanmar Travel Association of travel agencies, tour operators and travel related businesses under supervision of the government ministry undertook last June to attract 1 million tourists in the 2009-10 fiscal year.

Burmese tour operators have been participating in international travel shows as part of efforts to boost tourism. The tourist authority in Rangoon said Burmese tourist operators had booths at ITB Asia in Singapore in October, the World Travel Market 2009 in London in November and will be showing at the Vietnam International Travel Expo in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on Dec. 2-5.

Official figures show that the numbers of visitors coming to Burma in the previous two years has been low.

Although government tourist officials blamed the global financial crisis and Cyclone Nargis for the fall, the country’s political situation has had a significant impact on tourism.

Observers say it was noticeable that Burma got less visitors following the brutal crackdown on the mass demonstrations led by monks in September 2007.