Myanmar’s tourism industry has strongly rejected junta boss Min Aung Hlaing’s claims about large numbers of tourist arrivals.
He told a gathering to mark World Tourism Day on Wednesday in Naypyitaw: “Myanmar received over 600,000 foreign tourists in the first seven months of 2023, a six-fold increase from last year.”
However, tour operators and hotel representatives said there are almost no western tourists.
“I don’t know how to work out the figure but that number is impossible, to be sure,” a tour operator told The Irrawaddy.
He said some tourists have arrived from China, Thailand and other Asian countries but Japanese visitors no longer come.
About 4.3 million tourists visited Myanmar in 2019 and, according to the junta, 230,000 in 2022.
The United States has issued the highest advisory level against travel to Myanmar, citing armed conflict, civil unrest, potential wrongful detentions, areas with landmines and unexploded ordnance as risk factors. The UK advises nationals against all travel to more than half of Myanmar’s states and regions.
Staff are abandoning the tourism industry and hotels are up for sale across the country. Travel companies have closed or changed their business models, sometimes offering ways for citizens to leave Myanmar.
“We sell foreign flights as there are no tourists,” a Yangon operator told The Irrawaddy. “Even the Shwedagon Pagoda is empty.”
The Shwedagon Pagoda Board of Trustees in Yangon, which is under junta control, reported 300 tourists per day in the first half of 2023, mostly from China and Thailand, down from 90,000 tourists per month in 2020.
The junta’s Ministry of Hotel and Tourism has suggested 14 safe destinations, including Bagan, Kalaw, Ngwe Saung, Chaung Tha and Pyin Oo Lwin.
Tourists in Bagan have been a rare sight since the 2021 coup, said a hotel manager at the UNESCO World Heritage site in Mandalay Region.
“There are only one or two Asian tourists,” he told The Irrawaddy.
Kalaw in southern Shan State sees a few domestic visitors, according to residents. The laid-back hill town has a refreshing climate, scenic views and trekking opportunities.
The junta allows visas on arrival for tourists from China and India but there is little take up.
