Even if a five-star hotel drops to over 300 yuan, no one is interested? Myanmar Tourism Minister: Looking forward to Chinese tourists returning to the country | Tourism | Minister
Myanmar is a country with abundant natural and cultural resources, and was once one of the popular tourist destinations for Chinese tourists.
However, in recent years, due to various reasons, Myanmar's tourism industry has encountered unprecedented challenges and difficulties. In this year's popular movie "All for One", the thrilling plot of fraud in northern Myanmar has made many people hesitate to travel to Myanmar
Tourism platforms have very few routes to Myanmar
A five-star hotel has been downgraded to over 300 yuan
Searching for tourism related content in Myanmar on various tourism platforms, there are very few tourist routes, and only two travel agencies have published routes on Fliggy Travel.
Xiao Zhang, a guide who has worked in Myanmar for five years, said: "The guide service provided in the first half of this year has not reached one tenth of the scale before the 2019 epidemic. Now, only 10 to 20 people can be received a month, and 80% of them are business visits. In addition, at present, when entering Myanmar, you need to pay $50 to buy the official COVID-19 insurance."
The general manager of a certain travel agency, Mingyue, said, "Currently, there is basically no demand from new customers, and there are occasional old customers who have inquired about the restoration status of the route, but have been advised to withdraw due to safety issues. Currently, the company has not planned a route to Myanmar, and has not yet visited Myanmar. The local hotels that it has signed and cooperated with for many years have not yet opened."
The pace of recovery in Myanmar's tourism industry is also very slow. The hotel prices have dropped significantly, almost 60%, with five-star hotels offering a minimum of just over 300 yuan.
A well-known vacation hotel in Pugan has lowered the room price for local tourists to 100000 Kyat per night. For the same room type, the previous price for foreign tourists was 130 US dollars per night, which has dropped by more than 60%.
Receiving less than 370000 foreign tourists
Not as much as before
According to a notice issued by the General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China on August 10th, national travel agencies and online tourism enterprises will resume operating group tours and "air ticket+hotel" services for Chinese citizens traveling to relevant countries and regions. Myanmar is on the list of Asian countries.
However, compared to other neighboring countries, the recovery of Myanmar's tourism industry in 2023 is very slow.
According to Myanmar media reports, in the first half of this year, Myanmar only attracted over 450000 foreign tourists, with China and Thailand having the highest number of tourists. Of course, this number has increased compared to the same period last year, but it is far inferior to neighboring countries.
Take Laos, Myanmar's neighbor, for example. The opening of the China Laos railway this year accelerated the recovery of local tourism. In the first half of the year alone, Laos received more than 1.6 million foreign tourists, more than three times as many as Myanmar.
According to data from the Myanmar Ministry of Tourism, in the 2022-23 fiscal year from April last year to March this year, Myanmar received a total of 367368 international tourists, of which Chinese tourists were the most, reaching 48342, accounting for 13.15%.
Less than 370000 foreign tourists, even less than a fraction of what they used to be.
Minister of Tourism: Looking forward to Chinese tourists returning
Chinese enterprise staff say not to demonize Myanmar
According to recent reports from Myanmar media, the Minister of Hotels and Tourism stated that China is the most reliable market for Myanmar's tourism development, and Myanmar looks forward to the return of Chinese tourists.
In order to promote the development of Myanmar's national tourism industry, Myanmar has allowed people from more than 100 countries and regions to enter Myanmar using electronic visa e-Visa. The Myanmar Ministry of Hotels and Tourism has also specially organized basic Chinese language courses in the capital city of Naypyidaw to better welcome Chinese tourists.
Recently, a staff member of a Chinese enterprise in Myanmar said in an interview with Baikan News that we should still approach Myanmar with rationality and common sense, and not "demonize" it.
Zhongxin Jingwei Comprehensive Daily Economic News, Watch News, Cover News, Urban Express, etc
