Pagoda switches to Kyat

Shwedagon Pagoda trustees confirmed over the weekend that visitors to the famous pagoda will need to pay entrance fees in kyat instead of US dollars effective 1 April.
According to local news reports, many tourists who pay the US$8 fee, up from US$5 last October, give officials at the gate worn or torn US dollar notes. They are often rejected by the foreign trade bank.
As of 1 April, the official fee will be 8,000 kyat.
It is a standing practice to always obtain fresh new US dollar notes when visiting Myanmar to avoid that problem. However, the trustees said fee collectors were reluctant to upset tourists or cause delays at the temple entrances, when they presented old bills.
Golden Express Tours managing director, U Tint Naung, was quoted as saying that the policy was a positive response to a problem and should be introduced at other sites.
“Entrance fees should be in local currency throughout the entire country,” he said.
More than 60,000 tourists visited Shwedagon in February, paying more than US$485,000. On average there are 2,000 tourists visit the pagoda daily.
Last year, it attracted 400,852 visitors representing an increase of 47.92% compared to over 271,000 visitors in 2012.
The pagoda’s board of trustees collected entrance fees of over US$204,000 and 1.5 million in other currencies since 2008.

Sourced: ttrweekly