Tourist arrivals by cruise ships surge in Myanmar

From January to the third week of December, six cruise ships visited the country, and two more ships are supposed to arrive in the last week.

“Eight cruise ships are expected to arrive here by the end of this month, carrying more than 4,000 tourists,” said an MPA official.

Official figures show a nearly eight-fold surge in the number of tourists aboard luxury cruise ships compared to 2010, when more than 500 tourists visited the country on six cruise ships. In 2011, more than 3,500 tourists visited here on nine cruise ships. Last year, Myanmar welcomed more than 3,100 tourists from ten cruise ships.

During their tours of the city, the tourists—mostly from Europe and the U.S.—usually visit Yangon’s landmarks such as the Shwedagon Pagoda and Bogyoke Market.

 

Number of urban dwellers has doubled

Myanmar’s urban population has doubled in 30 years, according to the adviser of the Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association (MCEA) and former ambassador Hla Maung. “The number of dwellers in urban areas was 8 million in 1980. Now it’s 16 million,” he said.

The population in urban areas is expected to increase year after year with the development of industry and business. The average percentage of dwellers in urban areas was 30 per cent in 2000. That figure will reach 35 per cent in 2015.

The total population in urban areas was 15.34 million in 2000 and that figure is expected to increase to 23.68 million in 2015, the retired ambassador said.

Myanmar needed 2.89 million dwellings in 2000. By 2015, sources say the country will be expected to require 4.74 million homes. The average requirement will be about 123,000 dwellings per year. Among these, about one-fifth of the housing will be needed for Yangon dwellers, the former ambassador said.

“Some 20,000 rooms will be needed annually in Yangon and only 7,000 rooms have been constructed. The average requirement of the room is still increasing,” an official from MCEA said.

According to statistics, the population in Myanmar is increasing by 2.2 percent annually. If the population continues to increase at that rate, the total population will reach 67.65 million by 2015. The total population is expected to increase by 17.52 million during the fifteen-year period from 2000 to 2015, Hla Maung concluded.

 

Border trade with China increases three-fold

Myanmar’s border trade with China has increased three-fold this fiscal year, reaching nearly US$2 billion (Bt65.3 billion) as of December 13, according to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

The total trade figure hit $2.88 billion between April 1 and December 13, with in which export to China accounted for $1.94 billion while import made up $940 million. In the same period last year, total trade was just $879 million.

Many businesspeople attributed the big increase in the trade figures to two main factors: the measures taken by the Myanmar government to control illegal border trade, and the increased trading activities of small entrepreneurs with Individual Trading Cards.

Myanmar conducts border trade with China through the Muse, Lwe-jel, Chin Shwe Haw and Kanpattee checkpoints. Among them, Muse checkpoint recorded the largest trade volume, followed by Chin Shwe Haw. It exported agricultural and animal products, wood, metals and industrial goods to China, while consumer products, electrical goods and construction materials were imported during the fiscal year. For its overall trade volume, Myanmar aims to hit $25 billion, of which 20 per cent is expected to be from border trade and 80 per cent from overseas trade, by the end of fiscal year 2013-14. 

The country has border-trade agreements with China, Thailand, India and Bangladesh. The Myanmar-China border-trade agreement dates back to 1994.

Myanmar is planning to open more checkpoints along the Thai and Chinese borders in order to boost border trade with the neighbouring countries, according to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.