Experts predict over a million international visitors to Myanmar as arrivals already grew between 30% and 40% during the first five months of 2012.
BANGKOK- It is anything but a secret: Myanmar is the new kid on the block in tourism in Asia those days and one of the hottest! The release of opposition leader Aung San Su Kyi last year, the –so far- peaceful transition of Myanmar into to a more democratic society following years of harsh freedom repression have earned the sympathy of other governments around the world. And suddenly all the tourists want to rush to Myanmar and discover one of the most untouched and beautiful places in Asia.
Last year, total foreign arrivals reached a record at 816,369 of which 390,000 came by air, the rest being border tourism. This number was up by 31.5% over 2010. They generate revenues of US$ 320 million, up by 25.6% over 2010. Asia represented the bulk of the growth with a market share of 66% while Western Europe represented close to 21% of all arrivals. According to Su Su Tin, Managing Director of the tour operator Exotissimo in Myanmar, the country expects another jump of at least 30% in 2012. This would then help Myanmar to pass for the first time the million international tourist arrivals, a magical number targeted at least for over a decade! In February and April of this year, total arrivals even reached a record at over 40 % growth!
The biggest difficulty will be now to accommodate tourist flows in a country where good infrastructure such as roads or rails are almost non-existent and where hotel capacity remains limited. Progress in this field is real but too slow. Mrs Su Su Tin explained that a new highway –the first of its kind- has recently been put into service between Mandalay and Yangon, helping to cut considerable travel time between both cities. There is also an urgent need to upgrade Bagan airport to let larger aircraft to land there. Bagan has the potential to become as famous as Angkor Wat and is likely to become a UNESCO World Heritage site in the near future.
Hotel capacities remain also very tight with only 1,400 rooms being added to the current 5,145 existing room supply. “Many hotels used to lease rooms to companies which turned them into offices. They now try to get back these rooms to convert them again for tourism purposes. But it will still take time before we can accommodate all travellers’ needs,” concluded Su Su Tin.
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.
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