Published on : Saturday, January 19, 2019
Acting director-general of the Directorate of Hotels and Tourism, MOHT, Khin Than Win, informed TTG Asia that as tourism arrivals to Myanmar for 2018 increased by 3.2 percent to 3.6 million in general, the European market reported a drop as a result of media coverage on the conflict in the Rakhine region.
The growth in overall arrivals was caused as a result of visa relaxations that were executed across countries in Asia such as China, India, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong.
Considering that visa relaxations would attract more tourists from the longhaul markets, Khin Than Win shared: “We would like to extend this to European countries – Germany, Italy, Spain, France and more – because European visitors stay longer and spend more money than Asians.”
As such, the minister of hotels and tourism Ohn Maung will take part in the International Tourism Fair in Spain later this month and ITB Berlin in March to see which European countries that VOAs should be offered to.
In expectation of further growth in tourism, thanks to a host of hotel signings, the ministry also proposes to develop its tourism facilities.
“We need to build more infrastructure such as roads, railroads, rest areas and clean toilets in tourist destinations. Our boutique hotels and signage boards also need to be improved.”
“More airports and incoming flights to bring more tourists landing directly in (our secondary) destinations are also required,” she elaborated.
Khin Than Win also added that regional and state governments of Myanmar have been developing infrastructure in their territories, which has been “very supportive for tourism”.
Tags: myanmar, visas on arrival