Re tourist arrival numbers reported

[celsus@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Re tourist arrival numbers reported by Xinhua

A few months back one of the fearsome fivesome at the top of the SPDC gave
a scolding (reported in NLM) to the folks at the Central Statistical
Organization about the info they were getting out and the way in which they
were doing it.  If the data on info tourist arrivals reported by XINHUA is
any indication of how exact the CSO is, then another scolding may be
needed.

About the only consistent pieces of information are that the SPDC
government aims to attract 500,000 tourist arrivals in the 1999-2000 fiscal
year and that they're heading in the wrong way if that's what they're still
aiming for.  To juege from what we hear, the turnstiles certainly aren't
clicking very fast at border points with Thailand these days.

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YANGON (26 October 1999) XINHUA -   A total of 138,561 foreign 
tourists visited Myanmar in the first half of this year and 80,572 
of them came by land routes through border points. The figures also show
that in 1998, a total of 279,335 foreign  tourists came to Myanmar which
earned just over 33 million  U.S. dollars from tourism in the year. 
The country hopes to boost the number of tourist arrivals to 500,000 
annually. Since Myanmar adopted the open-door economic policy 
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YANGON (Aug. 4, 1999) XINHUA - A total of 292,282 foreign tourists visited
Myanmar in the fiscal year 1998-99 which ended in March, of whom 172,007
came by land routes through border points.  According to the latest figures
published by the country's Central Statistical Organization, the number of
tourists who visited Myanmar in the fiscal year increased by 27,160 as
compared with the previous year. he country targets to boost the number of
tourist arrivals to 500,000 in the current fiscal year of 1999-2000.
---------------------------------

YANGON (June 27, 1999) XINHUA -  According to official statistics, a total
of 340,123 foreign  tourists visited Myanmar in 1998. Myanmar is trying to
boost the  number of tourist arrivals to 500,000 in the fiscal year
1999-2000. 

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YANGON (Oct. 12, 1998 ) XINHUA - Foreign tourists visiting Myanmar
reached 567,458 in number in 1997-98 fiscal year which ended in March,
earning 30 million U.S. dollars of foreign exchange, according to
official statistics.  Of the tourists who visited Myanmar, more than
300,000 entered through border points with the majority coming from China
and Thailand.