Myanmar continues to relax travel rules by allowing another 22 countries to get a visa on arrival. Now, the service is available for 48 countries at both Yangon and Mandalay international airports.
YANGON- Confronted to an influx of demands to visit Myanmar, Asia’s trendiest destination had to accelerate procedures to purchase a visa-on-arrival as it has a limited number of consular facilities around the world. According to the website embassypages.com, the country currently has only 33 embassies and eight consular offices. With total number of travellers likely to reach 1.4 to 1.5 million in 2013, visa-on-arrival procedures are more than ever necessary.
Since the start of February, visa-on-arrival has been made available for citizens of 48 countries after the government expanded the visa scheme for 22 more countries. Business visa, entry visa, and transit visa have been available at the Yangon International Airport since last June and at the Mandalay International Airport since last November.
Reported in local media, Than Win, the officer-in-charge at Mandalay International Airport said most of the European countries were among the 22 additional countries, including Belgium, Finland, Austria, and Israel.
Not every tourist qualifies for a visa-on-arrival. The facility is only granted to travellers with the necessary documents, including a letter of invitation from their sponsoring company. A 70-day business visa costs US$50, a 28-day entry visa delivered for meetings, workshops or events is US$40, while a 24-hour transit visa costs US$20. The Government will not for now provide visa on arrivals to simple tourists arriving to the country only with a booking as it fears that Myanmar will face a further rise in the number of travellers. They are still problems of capacities to accommodate all the visitors for now as the hotel supply is stretched to its maximum capacity.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
