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[myanmar] More Tourists Visit Myanm



Dear Mo,

What I thought  was particularly interesting was that
more than half of the tourist arrivals were overland -- quite
likely day trips in many (most?) cases -- tourists unlikely to spend
much money in Burma (apart from the gamblers, who could well
be big spenders --  does anyone have estimates?).

These are only figures for 6 months, and the proportions may be
different in the 2nd half of the year, but it could be that less than
100,000 tourists a year are "regular" tourists, buying the
Foreign Exchange Certificates, staying in big hotels etc.

But perhaps I am wrong, and overland tourists spend more than I
think. Do you or other people have more info?

David Arnott

At 12:55 PM 10/13/00 +0100, mo wrote:
>Myanmar Information - http://www.myanmar.com/
>
>David,
>
>The news story is interesting in terms of analysing the rise in number of
>tourists entering Burma via border.  The reliability of news story is
>important as well.  The news has come out of Xinhua news agency, as you may
>know that Chinese government has superficially eased the control on in
>Chinese news agency but they are still obliged to act as spin doctors for
>the regime.  The reliability of statistics is notoriously bad in
>undemocratic countries.  It is possible that the traders from these
>countries are entering into Burma under the pretence of tourists to avoid
>paying tax for the goods they bring into Burma.  The cross-border control
>authorities are corrupt and they may be manipulating the figures.  At last
>but not the least, the crucial point is that we need to be careful these
>tourists from neighbouring countries coming do not promote and encourage
>prostitution in Burma.  I want to tell them to leave our sisters alone...
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: David Arnott <darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>To: <Recipient list suppressed>
>Sent: Friday, October 13, 2000 11:42 AM
>Subject: [myanmar] More Tourists Visit Myanmar by Land
>
>
> > Myanmar Information - http://www.myanmar.com/
> >
> > More Tourists Visit Myanmar by Land
> >
> > Xinhua, Rangoon, 13 October 2000.   A total of 119,103 foreign
> > tourists visited Myanmar in the first six months of this year, of whom
> > 60,987 entered the country by land through border points while
> > 57,878 came by air, said the official Monthly Indicators in its latest
>issue.
> >
> > The higher number of tourists coming in by land was attributed to
> > the absorption of cross-border tourists from neighboring countries
> > especially Thailand and China.
> >
> > Despite a drop of 29.6 percent in the number of cross-border tourists
> > in the six-month period compared with the same period of 1999,
> > there exist better prospects in the cross-border tourism
> > industry in the near future.
> >
> > According to an earlier official report, Myanmar and Thai tourism
> > authorities agreed last month on the promotion of cooperation in
> > the development of the tourism industry between the two countries,
> > based on an accord on tourism cooperation initiated in July 1998.
> >
> > Aimed at drawing more tourists from Thailand, Myanmar is also
> > scheduled to hold its third travel show in Bangkok on October 17.
> >
> > Meanwhile, Myanmar also signed last July with China a new
> > accord on bilateral cooperation in the tourism sphere along with
> > two other documents on cooperation in economic and
> > scientific-technological spheres.
> >
> > It is expected that tourist arrivals across the border will pick
> > up and boost in a short time following the country's signing
> > of these accords respectively with Thailand and China, both
> > of which are main suppliers of tourists to Myanmar by land.
> >
> > Myanmar has so far added more than a dozen entry points
> > along its border in five states and divisions for foreign tourists
> > and allowed them to visit inland far up to the capital of Yangon.
> >
> > According to official statistics, in the last five years, Myanmar
> > annually received 200,000 foreign tourists, earning over 30 million
> > U.S. dollars, 2.8 million Thai baht and 1.7 million Chinese RMB
> > yuan.
> >
> > The statistics also show that the country has so far obtained
> > 1. 1 billion dollars of contracted foreign investment in more than
> > 40 projects in the sector of hotels and tourism since the country
> > opened to such investment in late 1988.
> >
> >
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