Myanmar targets 7.8m tourists a year

“We are undertaking reforms in the tourism sector. We are working on a new policy to be in line with the recently released national economic policy,” said Tint Thwin, director-general of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. 

“Our focus is to create more jobs and generate more income for the nation while paying attention to environmental protection.” 

On the sidelines of the “Myanmar Hospitality and Tourism Conference” on Tuesday, Tint Thwin said the ministry would encourage private-sector participation and engage more with other ministries. 

Some of the priorities the ministry will undertake are promoting ecotourism and community-based tourism (CBT), increasing connectivity, finding new donors, engaging more with other ministries and private tourism organisations, improving transparency, and creating new destinations.

He said the ministry would improve the 22 existing ecotourism sites and 6 CBT areas this year. National parks will be established. 

The ministry will try to get Bagan listed as a World Heritage site in cooperation with other departments and agencies. Maintaining the monument zones all over the country will also be on the ministry’s radar.

Tint Thwin underscored the importance of infrastructure development. He said the ministry had encouraged international airlines to open new routes to key destinations such as Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan. 

Additionally, improving aviation capacity including airport infrastructure and increasing hotel rooms is on the agenda.

At present, 24 airlines land at Yangon International Airport and five at Mandalay International Airport. The new terminal at Yangon airport aims to encourage existing airlines to expand frequencies and attract more carriers to fly to Yangon. The plan to improve infrastructure at domestic airports has been taken into account.

However, the official admitted that the ministry needed to find more donors in this regard because the state budget allocation for tourism has not improved much this year. He appreciates the Asian Development Bank’s support for some tourism projects but stressed the need for more donors to makes sure all the targeted activities are undertaken successfully.

“We have no plans yet to increase the number of staff and offices in key destinations because of our budget. But we are trying our best to make sure all the visitors are satisfied and attract them to visit Myanmar again,” he said.

Tint Thwin said soft infrastructure was as important as hard infrastructure. He said Myanmar had received technical support from some European countries including Switzerland and Luxembourg. 

Training has played a key role in producing a number of qualified workers for the much-needed hotel industry.

“We need a lot of capacity-building at all levels. We notice that services at most hotels have improved a lot thanks to the training. In the past, nearly 70 per cent of new hotel staff completed a training course before they started working. Now all the new staff need to complete basic training before they join their hotels,” he said.

Despite flooding, this year’s visitor-arrival target has been maintained at 5.5 million. Last year, Myanmar welcomed 4.68 million tourists, who spent more than US$2.12 billion (Bt74 billion). Tourism revenue has increased in each of the past five years: $254 million in 2010, $319 million in 2011, $534 million in 2012, $926 million in 2013 and $1.8 billion in 2014.

Tint Thwin also hinted that Myanmar might allow home stays for foreigners in the years to come. At present, doing this is troublesome as by law, the hosts have to submit information on visiting foreigners to regional authorities. 

“We are considering that seriously. But any type of home stay will depend on two main things. First, residents should accept foreigners visiting their neighbourhood. Second, foreigners must respect the culture and tradition of the local community. 

“We need to seek cooperation from other ministries to allow this kind of visit,” he said.