Troubled Myanmar readies to open for tourism
Seemingly irrespective of civil unrest, countless skirmishes between guerilla-style freedom fighters and the army, over 300 roadside bomb attacks since the February 1 coup, a defunct infrastructure and an economy on the brink of collapse, the ruling Myanmar junta announced that the country would reopen its tourism sector to foreigners early next year, initially targeting visitors from Southeast Asia, Bloomberg News wrote.
Acting as if nothing serious has happened to Myanmar since the military takeover, the country’s minister for hotels and tourism Htay Aung said that fewer new Covid-19 infections have prompted the lifting of a ban on inter-provincial travel, and the next step would be to open international borders.
Myanmar would prepare for necessary arrangements for travel bubbles with Thailand through land borders and also aims at reopening to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in the first quarter of 2022, Aung said, but added that a ban on international commercial flights was still in effect.
Some 300,000 regional visitors expected in first phase
About 300,000 foreigners are expected in the first phase of the reopening, and although around half of the country’s hotels and guest houses have suspended operations, some 90,000 rooms are still available, he noted.
Myanmar has had a military government since a February coup that ousted a civilian administration led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The political turmoil added to struggles with the pandemic and its fallout.
The economy probably contracted 18.4% in the fiscal year ended September 30, according to the latest report by the Asian Development Bank, which did not provide a forecast for fiscal 2022 due to the “uncertain situation.”
[caption id="attachment_26715" align="alignleft" width="300"] Thai-Myanmar border post in Tachileik © Arno Maierbrugger[/caption] Seemingly irrespective of civil unrest, countless skirmishes between guerilla-style freedom fighters and the army, over 300 roadside bomb attacks since the February 1 coup, a defunct infrastructure and an economy on the brink of collapse, the ruling Myanmar junta announced that the country would reopen its tourism sector to foreigners early next year, initially targeting visitors from Southeast Asia, Bloomberg News wrote. Acting as if nothing serious has happened to Myanmar since the military takeover, the country’s minister for hotels and tourism Htay Aung said that fewer new...
Seemingly irrespective of civil unrest, countless skirmishes between guerilla-style freedom fighters and the army, over 300 roadside bomb attacks since the February 1 coup, a defunct infrastructure and an economy on the brink of collapse, the ruling Myanmar junta announced that the country would reopen its tourism sector to foreigners early next year, initially targeting visitors from Southeast Asia, Bloomberg News wrote.
Acting as if nothing serious has happened to Myanmar since the military takeover, the country’s minister for hotels and tourism Htay Aung said that fewer new Covid-19 infections have prompted the lifting of a ban on inter-provincial travel, and the next step would be to open international borders.
Myanmar would prepare for necessary arrangements for travel bubbles with Thailand through land borders and also aims at reopening to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in the first quarter of 2022, Aung said, but added that a ban on international commercial flights was still in effect.
Some 300,000 regional visitors expected in first phase
About 300,000 foreigners are expected in the first phase of the reopening, and although around half of the country’s hotels and guest houses have suspended operations, some 90,000 rooms are still available, he noted.
Myanmar has had a military government since a February coup that ousted a civilian administration led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The political turmoil added to struggles with the pandemic and its fallout.
The economy probably contracted 18.4% in the fiscal year ended September 30, according to the latest report by the Asian Development Bank, which did not provide a forecast for fiscal 2022 due to the “uncertain situation.”
