Amid fatal gun attacks and robberies in major cities like Yangon and Mandalay, not to mention a civil war that has engulfed the country, junta minister General Mya Tun Oo has urged ministries, chief ministers and tourism agencies to work promptly to convince international travelers that tourist spots in Myanmar are safe to visit.
Addressing a meeting of the Central Committee on National Tourism Development, which he chairs, in Naypyitaw on Wednesday, Communications and Transport Minister Mya Tun Oo repeated junta boss Min Aung Hlaing’s call for “disseminating true information about safe travel to destinations in Myanmar to travelers”—an instruction the regime leader issued during his address to mark World Tourism Day on Sept. 27 last year.
The following day, Washington renewed its list of destinations for US citizens to avoid traveling to, with Myanmar again included. The UK and other European countries have also warned their citizens against visiting Myanmar due to the armed conflict in the country.
In fact, under the military regime, cities and towns in Myanmar have become unsafe not only for international tourists, but even for local residents.
While Mya Tun Oo was speaking about safe travel, a gold shop in downtown Yangon’s Pabedan Township was robbed in broad daylight. On Monday, a person was shot dead from behind at point blank range in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing Township.
Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, has also been rocked by gold shop robberies, kidnappings and murders.
In ethnic areas and central Myanmar, conflicts have been intensifying year by year since the coup. The junta has lost control over hundreds of towns and two regional military commands in Rakhine and northern Shan State.
The regime admitted in a recent preliminary census report that it was only able to conduct a full census in 145 out of 330 townships nationwide.
Many Myanmar destinations once popular with globetrotters are now conflict zones.
In Rakhine, major destinations for foreign tourists like Ngapali Beach and the cultural heritage site of Mrauk-U are now under the control of the Arakan Army (AA). With fighting poised to spill into neighboring Ayeyarwady Region, popular resort areas like Chaungtha and Ngwe Saung beaches seem unsafe now.
Fighting has been reported between the regime and the AA on Ann-Padan Road in the Arakan Mountains. The Mann Shwesettaw Pagoda in Magwe Region, a popular pilgrimage site, is just a 30-minute drive from Padan. The pagoda’s festival is held annually for nearly three months from February to April, attracting large crowds of visitors in peacetime. However, Minbu People’s Defense Force recently issued a warning against traveling near the pagoda. A family from Yangon told The Irrawaddy they canceled their planned trip to the pilgrimage site.
In Mandalay Region, the regime recently closed the popular tourist destination Mt. Popa for security reasons. In addition, People’s Defense Force (PDF) resistance groups have warned of military operations in the Bagan cultural heritage area, another major tourist attraction.
Meanwhile, the ethnic Ta’ang National Liberation Army and allied forces have been in control of Mogoke in northern Mandalay near the border with northern Shan State since July.
A visitor who traveled to UNESCO heritage site Bagan in December said he saw no foreign travelers there except for a few Chinese. He said he could hear gunfire from the western bank of the Irrawaddy River at night.
Other spots once popular among international tourists like Mt. Victoria and Rih Lake in Chin State, as well as Loikaw and Pekon in Karenni (Kayah) State, are no longer accessible due to fighting.
That leaves only Yangon and a few places in southern Shan State including Taunggyi and Inle Lake for international travelers to visit.
Speaking at an event to mark World Tourism Day in September, Min Aung Hlaing predicted a rise in travel to Myanmar in 2024 despite only 500,000 foreign arrivals being reported in the first five months of the year. Myanmar attracted 1 million foreign travelers in 2023, he claimed.
Much to its boss’s shame, in a front-page story in its Jan. 9 issue, junta-controlled newspaper Myanma Alin reported that 35.54 million foreigners visited Thailand in 2024.
