Burma set for high season tourist slump, industry says

Friday, 03 September 2010 01:27 Salai Han Thar San

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Although the tourist high season is starting, hotels and package tours have seen little booking activity, according to hotels and operators.

In past years, tourists have booked holidays around late August, but numbers have sharply declined, they said.

“The tourism industry is currently in a slump. In previous years, we took many bookings in early September. But this year, no one is making any bookings,” a high-ranking officer at a tourism company in Kyauktada Township, Rangoon said.

A spokesman from Rangoon’s Strand Hotel told Mizzima: “Although we have some guests and have accepted some bookings, the number of tourists is relatively unsatisfactory. Guest numbers have decreased this year,” he said, declining to give any figures.

The industry has been in the doldrums and many rooms in Rangoon and the ancient capital of Pagan have remained empty since late last month, when Burma suspended its recent policy of issuing visas on arrival.

A spokesman of a prominent hotel in Pagan confirmed the slump, also blaming it on the policy reversal. He said as soon as the visa policy was suspended, guest numbers decreased, adding that 71 of 76 rooms of the hotel were empty, which constituted less than 10 per cent occupancy.

From May to July, though it was the rainy season, many tourists had flocked to Burma because of the convenient visa system, he said.

A spokesman from Chatrium Hotel in Tamway Township, Rangoon reached the same conclusion, saying: “When the policy to issue visas on arrival was suspended, the number of guests was dramatically reduced.”

From August 1, the policy was suspended as the junta wanted to limit the number of tourists present in the country during the run-up to the elections on November 7. It was said the suspension would continue for at least three months.

Foreign diplomats and NGO employees used to stay at beaches such as those of Chaungtha and Ngwe Saung from November to March, but they had cancelled their trips, citing uncertainty over the election results, a tourism operator in Rangoon said.

“When I asked my regular customers who usually travel in October, they said they would delay their trips because of the elections as they didn’t know what would happen in Burma after the polls, and didn’t want to squander their money”, he said.

Late last month, the United States and Britain updated their information for Burma noting upcoming elections and the change in visa regulations.

After listing a number of violent events from Burma’s recent past, the US State Department website’s “country specific information” contained the following warning for travellers: “In light of these incidents and the possibility of political unrest surrounding Burma’s nationwide elections scheduled to be held on November 7, 2010, you should exercise caution in public places at all times.”

It also provided an update on the suspension of the visa-on-arrival programme.

Similarly, the British Embassy Rangoon’s travel advice section warned: “The political situation in Burma remains unsettled and tensions could resurface as preparations for the elections due in November 2010 gather momentum.”

However, managers at prominent hotels in Rangoon, such as Traders, Chatrium and the Strand, said they were still receiving their usual British and American clientele.

Hospitality, hotel and travel news site 4Hoteliers.com reported on August 31 that the number of foreign visitors to Burma between January and July was 161,322, a 37 per cent year-on-year surge. Out of this number, about 67 per cent of visitors were from Asia and 19 per cent from Europe.

The junta expected that about one million tourists would visit Burma during the tourist season, from September this year to next March.

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A previous version of this story published on Friday, September 3 said the following:

“Late last month, the United States and Britain issued warnings to travellers intending to visit Burma ahead of the elections.”

The US Embassy Rangoon has pointed out that the US government did not issue what it calls a formal “travel warning” but revised the “country specific information sheet on Burma”, with two updates to the document: the announcement of elections on November 7 and the suspension of the visa-on-arrival programme.

Mizzima would like to say that the US State Department’s country specific information does contain a warning specific to the conditions in Burma in the run-up to those elections: “In light of these incidents and the possibility of political unrest surrounding Burma’s nationwide elections scheduled to be held on November 7, 2010, you should exercise caution in public places at all times.”

We offer this new version to clarify the matter.