"MYEIK, Myanmar, 26 February: The ‘last island paradise’ of the Mergui Archipelago, straddling Myanmar and Thailand, has been in the spotlight with a high-level inspection and a day visit by a large super-cruise ship last week. The group of over 800 islands, for decades dubbed ‘the forbidden islands’ following its closure to all by the Burmese military junta since the 1960s, has opened to tourism with the establishment of new resorts on some of the uninhabited islands in recent years. Myanmar’s leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited the new Wa Ale Resort in the Andaman Sea as part of a high-level three-day tour including the main towns of Myeik, Dawei and Kawthaung. The state counsellor was impressed by the conservation-led private resort, which protected fragile marine and land habitats before creating the minimal-impact resort. Accompanied by four senior ministers, including the minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (www.monrec.gov.mm/) U Ohn Win, and the Tanintharyi region Chief Minister Daw Lae Lae Maw, Myanmar’s elected leader inspected the tented villa and treehouse resort, which has a protected sea turtle sanctuary in the dunes of its main beach. The VIP visitors heard from the Forestry Department’s (www.forestdepartment.gov.mm) Nyi Nyi Kyaw about plans for nature-based tourism in the 50,528 acre national marine park, and the area’s unique biodiversity of evergreen forests, mangroves, sandbanks, coral reefs and underwater grasses..."