Myanmar's tourism industry has cooled down: foreign tourists only have a small fraction of pre pandemic Myanmar | building materials | foreign tourists

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently announced the third batch of list for resuming outbound team tours, with Myanmar prominently listed. This has once again ignited people's curiosity about tourism in Myanmar, and after the list was announced, Myanmar tourism industry insiders are also full of expectations for the return of Chinese tourists.

Before the epidemic, Myanmar's tourism industry developed rapidly. In 2019, the number of Chinese tourists to Myanmar exceeded one million for the first time, promoting the transformation and upgrading of Myanmar's tourism industry and related industries. In the post pandemic era of 2023, Myanmar's tourism industry and overall economy have shown weak recovery.

Burmese Chinese scholar Heng Kai told First Financial reporters that Myanmar's economy has not yet returned to pre pandemic levels and is overall moving forward in difficulties. However, although there are external pressures and internal disputes, the economic and social activities of the people have tended towards normalization.

No longer popular

According to data released by the Myanmar Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, over 450000 foreign tourists visited Myanmar in the first half of this year, with China and Thailand having the highest number of tourists. The department stated that compared to the same period last year, the number of tourists has significantly increased. Myanmar resumed international air travel in April 2022.

In order to promote the development of tourism in Myanmar, Myanmar will resume visa free treatment for most citizens of ASEAN member countries in September 2022, and allow people from over 100 countries and regions to enter Myanmar in the form of electronic visas.

In June, the Chairman of the Central Committee for Tourism Development of Myanmar and Minister of the Interior, Suotu, stated that Myanmar will develop and relax its electronic visa system, similar to neighboring ASEAN countries, to provide convenience for foreign tourists visiting Myanmar and promote the development of Myanmar's tourism industry.

But even with the government's push, the number of foreign tourists coming to Myanmar now is only a small fraction before the pandemic. In 2019, the number of tourists entering Myanmar reached 4.36 million, accounting for approximately 4.6% of the country's GDP.

In 2019, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Myanmar exceeded one million, among which the number of Chinese tourists entering Myanmar by civil aviation flights increased rapidly, from over 297000 in 2018 to over 740000 in 2019, an increase of nearly 150%.

Tourism in Myanmar is no longer popular, and safety is the biggest concern for tourists. Due to security reasons, the Myanmar government has also divided some areas of the country into restricted and prohibited areas for foreign tourists.

According to Xinhua News Agency on July 31st, the Myanmar National Defense and Security Commission held a meeting and decided to extend the national state of emergency for another six months starting from August 1st. Since February 2021, Myanmar has repeatedly extended the national state of emergency.

In May of this year, the website of the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar also revealed that several Chinese citizens were recently lured and illegally immigrated to the Myawady area of Myanmar under the pretext of "high salary employment", and were required to engage in telecommunications fraud activities. After receiving a request for help, the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar immediately activated the emergency plan and coordinated with the Myanmar police to carry out rescue operations. At present, the relevant personnel have been safely rescued.

Economic recovery

Prior to the pandemic, Myanmar was one of the fastest growing economies in ASEAN, with an average GDP growth rate of around 6.5% between 2012 and 2019, higher than the ASEAN average of 5% during the same period.

But after the epidemic, Myanmar's economic recovery has significantly slowed down compared to neighboring ASEAN countries. Take Laos, Myanmar's neighbor, for example. Although its land area is only one third of Myanmar's, with the opening of the China Laos railway this year, the recovery of local tourism has accelerated. In the first half of the year alone, Laos received more than 1.6 million foreign tourists, more than three times that of Myanmar. The comparison is very obvious.

According to tourism industry insiders in Myanmar, foreign tourists have sharply decreased, and the tourism industry can only rely on domestic tourism development. However, the consumption ability of Myanmar's domestic people cannot compare with foreign tourists. In this context, many Burmese hotels have closed down. The previously spent 130 million US dollars Yangguang Peninsula Hotel project has also been affected by political instability and other factors, and progress has been suspended.

According to the World Bank's semi annual report, it is expected that Myanmar's GDP growth rate will reach 3% in 2023, but compared to 2019, the overall GDP is still about 10% lower. The report also indicates that in the first half of 2023, Myanmar's economy shows signs of stabilization, but businesses continue to face multiple challenges, household income remains weak, and food security issues are increasingly worrying. It is expected that Myanmar's economy will slowly expand in the next one to two years.

However, according to data released by the Myanmar Ministry of Commerce, the trade volume between Myanmar and China's border trade ports reached 2.7 billion US dollars in the first 11 months of the 2022-2023 fiscal year, an increase of over 500 million US dollars year-on-year, or more than 23%. Myanmar mainly exports agricultural and aquatic products to China, while importing building materials, electrical appliances, machinery, food, and medicine from China.

Heng Kai also told First Financial reporters that the speed of border trade between China and Myanmar has greatly improved compared to before the epidemic, accelerating the speed of material circulation and enhancing the well-being of both sides.