Tourist Arrivals in Myanmar Decline

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Tourist Arrivals in Myanmar Decline in January, February

Xinhua, Rangoon, 5 June 2001. A total of 32,377 foreign tourists visited
Myanmar in the first two months of this year, dropping in number by
32.6 percent compared with the corresponding period of 2000, the country's
Economic Indicators said in its latest issue.

The decline was obvious in the number of those travelling across border,
reaching only 4,692 during the two-month period and constituting a fall of
77.8 percent in the cross-border arrivals from the same period of 2000
when it was 21,195.

The sharp reduction of cross-border tourists arrival was seen as being
due to the outbreak of border clashes in February between Myanmar and
Thailand which is one of Myanmar's two neighboring countries supplying
most of the tourists to the country.

While the number of foreign tourists arriving Myanmar by land was
experiencing a sharp drop in the two months, those coming in by air
increased by 2.8 percent, reaching 27,685 as compared with the
same period of 2000.

According to official statistics, in 2000, the number of tourist arrivals
was registered at only 234,900, falling by 9.3 percent from 1999. Of them,
49 percent entered the country by land through border points.