REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS - Flow of tourists from Indochina seen surging

Bangkokpost, 15th October 2007

Private tourism operators are being urged to prepare for an influx of foreign tourists as the East-West Economic Corridor linking Burma, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam approaches completion.
According to Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, deputy secretary general to National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), the East-West Economic Corridor linking Thailand, Laos and Vietnam has been finished, with the construction of 18 kilometres in Burma nearly completed.
The economic corridor is created based on a road of 1,450 km with the west end at port city of Mawlamyine (Burma), crossing Kayin Division, the Thai provinces of Tak, Sukhothai, Kalasin, Phitsanulok, Khon Kaen, Yasothon, Mukdahan and the Laotian provinces of Savannakhet, Vietnamese provinces of Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue Province and Da Nang city as the east end.

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MYANMAR - Tourism thrives as Myanmar is urged to release demonstrators

eTN, 13-Sept-2007

An official from Myanmar's Ministry of Tourism has claimed that no significant cancellations have been reported, and arrivals are still up over last year. The official, who was not authorized to speak to reporters therefore speaking on condition of anonymity, told Agence France Presse: "We don't think tourist arrivals will decrease because of the protests here. Now the number of arrivals is up 11 percent from April 1 to now, compared to the same period last year. These protests are not about tourists."Tourism's peak season is due to start in October when the dry season starts and the weather turns cooler. Travel operators are so far claiming that no tourists have cancelled their reservation yet as a result of the protests. Last year, approximately 630,000 foreigners visited military-ruled Myanmar, spending some US$164 million.

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AVIATION - MAI looks to winter growth

TTGasia.com, Jun 1 - 7, 2007

MYANMAR Airways International (MAI) plans to inject capacity growth of at least 20 per cent with the onset of the winter schedule in October 2007. Country manager in Singapore, Mr Aaron Teo, said: “This will be achieved through a combination of new destinations, fleet growth and increased frequencies on existing routes. Up to now, we have depended on partnerships with other airlines to extend our reach and ASEAN-based airlines have been particularly helpful.”MAI operates a pair of MD-82 on flights linking Yangon to Bangkok (10 times weekly) and Kuala Lumpur (four times weekly with frequent additional flights needed lately). On the Yangon-Singapore route, MAI has a thrice-weekly joint service with Jetstar Asia Airways operated by the latter’s Airbus A320.

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MYANMAR - focuses on its airport infrastructure

eTN Asia, 19-12-2006

Myanmar is reportedly planning to build an airport for a tourism-business-booming beach resort of Ngwesaung in the country’s southwestern division of Ayeyawaddy to facilitate local and foreign travelers.

Recently, it was shared that Myanmar’s Yangon International Airport, which is under extension, would have the capacity of accommodating larger aircraft such as Boeing-747 on completion. The new airport on completion can also handle about 2.7 million passengers a year against the present 500,000.

Ngwesaung’s silvery beach, about 30 miles from the town of Pathein, stretches an unbroken line for nine miles from Zee-Maw Village in the north to Majee-Maw Village in the south with its scenic and occasionally rocky shoreline, all set against a backdrop of tropical rain forests and the towering Rakhine mountain range.

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DEVELOPMENTS - Bridge opens route for 'caravan tourism' in Mekong Delta

eTN Asia, 12-12-2006

Typhoons which have become more frequent lately have not stopped Vietnam from being a tourist destination for land 'caravan tourists' which is booming.

The opening of the East-West Economic Corridor in the Mekong Delta has brought with it an unexpected boom in 'caravan tourism' to Da Nanag, in central Vietnam, according to latest news reports.

The official inauguration of the Huu Nghi Bridge, connecting Mukdakhan in Thailand
and Savanakhet in Laos in the Mekong Delata on December 20, picked to commemorate Laos's 61st National Day is expected to boost tourism and trade activities along the economic corridor.

Foreign tourists have helped to popularize overland journeys to Vietnam from
Thailand, pushing the number of caravan tours to 20,000, up five-fold from last year's figures, said Thai Ba Canh, deputy director of Da Nang Tourism Department.

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MYANMAR - Better than Thailand?

Phuket post, 4-12-2006

Myanmar has long been a controversial destination for tourists, with the argument being about whether visiting the country actually helps to support the ruling junta in the face of an international boycott over its undemocratic ways.

Now Aljazeera reports online that some people are claiming Myanmar is a better destination, morally, than Thailand.

Reporter Veronica Pedrosa, once a familiar face on CNN, says that a tourism promoter told her on a recent visit that Myanmar was being seen in some markets as a ''decent'', safe and cultural alternative to Thailand.

Well, it depends on your concept of decency. What's a “decent” government?
While coming off a low base number of visitors, Pedrosa reports that tourism in Myanmar is on the rise. According to Myanmar figures, she says, it has tripled since 2000.

''At Yangon's best known tourist spots, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Spanish and Italian tourists pose for photographs and bargain hard for the best deals,'' she writes.

And there are clearly some good reasons for visiting Myanmar. She mentions the pristine beaches, colonial architecture, temple complexes and ethnic villages, untouched by mass tourism.

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MYANMAR - tourism industry to boost in current tour season

People's DailyOnline, December 01, 2006

Myanmar's tourism industry is signaling to boost in the current tour season with reservations at almost all major hotels in the country's tourist sites fully booked, according to local tour operators Friday. Myanmar's tour season lasts from November to May.

Reservations at hotels in Bagan, Mandalay and Inlay have been full up to next February, the sources said.

Meanwhile, air tickets for airlines flying the main route for international transit between Yangon and Bangkok have been sold out, the sources quoted the Thai Airways International (TG), Bangkok Airways (PG), Myanmar Airways International (8M), Phuket Airlines (9R) and Thai Air Asia (FD) as saying.

To meet passenger demand, the main foreign airline of TG flying between the two destinations is arranging to increase its afternoon flight services and the new schedule will last until next March, it added.

Observers see a new record high of one million tourists arrivals in the tour season especially in this year-end through to the first quarter of next year.

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MALAYSIA - rail tracks adds to SKRL project

eTN Asia, 11-09-2006

ASEAN looking to China for assistance to build next stretch covering 257km.
KUNMING, China (eTN): The ASEAN-led Singapore to Kunming Rail Link (SKRL) has taken another step with the addition of used rail tracks donated by Malaysia.

Cambodia will start lying the rail tracks in early 2007, and on completion of the line in 2009 it will link Poipet to Sisophon.

The stretch will enable travelers to journey by train all the way through from Singapore to Phnom Penh, via the SKRL route in eastern Cambodia.

"The tracks, to be delivered in six batches, have arrived in the Thai-Cambodia border town of Aranyaprathet," chairman Chan Kong Choy, Malaysian transport minister told transport and rail authorities from China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and ASEAN Secretariat who attended the 8th Working Group meeting here.

The SKRL, added Chan, will seek assistance from China to complete the next connection between Phnom Penh-Loc Ninh covering a distance of 257km inside Cambodia, eventually linking the line to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

"Funding to lay the tracks for the additional 48km Poipet-Siophon link will come from the US$72 million loan granted by the Asian Development Bank to Cambodia."

A part of the money will also be used to rehabilitate the Phnom-Penh-Sihanoukville connection.

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AVIATION - Private airline in Myanmar to fly China's Kunming in December

Xinhua, 9-25-2006

Myanmar's private airline, Air Bagan, will fly China's Kunming in December as its first international flight.

Myanmar's private airline, Air Bagan, will fly China's Kunming in December as its first international flight, the airline announced on Monday. Using a 97-seat Fokker-100 aircraft, the airline will fly the route Yangon-Mandalay-Kunming-Yangon for thrice a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, the airline's marketing department said. According to its earlier disclosure, Air Bagan is also planning to stretch its wings to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia in the early phase of its international flight.

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INFRASTRUCTURE - Asian Highway: Modern Silk Road Promises Economic Benefits

World Politics Watch, 12 Sep 2006

Another piece of the ambitious 87,546 mile Asian Highway (AH) network slotted into place last month as Vietnam completed its section. The milestone was announced by Do Ngoc Dung, vice director of the Vietnam government's My Thuan Project Management Unit. The Asian Highway now links Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. The $144.77 million construction bill was partly financed by the Asian Development Bank.

When completed, the $44 billion AH network will weave through 32 countries, connect Asia with Europe, and boost regional economies by facilitating trade and tourism. It also fuels dreams of a Pan-Asian community with a common social-political-economic identity analogous to the European Union.

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DEVELOPMENTS - Group to jointly provide boost to tourism

BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) group has decided to simplifying visa procedures and establishing a crisis management network to deal with issues like infectious diseases and natural disasters that affect the sector.
BIMSTEC has seven member countries including Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.
Tourism ministers of seven-member regional grouping, BIMSTEC also called for setting up of BIMSTEC tourism working group comprising of private stake holders of tourism industry in the region and to encourage joint investment in the sector. The meeting agreed in principle to receive assistance from the Asian Development Bank to upgrade facilities and build infrastructures in the region for tourism promotion.

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