Mandalay leads hotel openings

Myanmar’s Ministry of Hotels and Tourism says Mandalay Region leads in hotel openings with 302 new hotels approved over the last eight months.
Local news media channels reported that out of 960 hotels that were granted operating licences across Myanmar since July 2013, 302 have been opened in Mandalay while 238 opened in Yangon Region.
In addition, data released by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, July 2013 to February 2014, showed that 1,102 travel firm licenses, 190 transportation licenses and 3,341 tour guide firm licenses have been issued across the country.
Over 2 million tourists visited Myanmar in 2013; a performance that has been consistently doubling every year since the government initiated a series of political and economic reforms in 2011.
This year, the country expects to attract 3 million visitors.
Close to 90% of all hotels are located in Mandalay, Yangon, Ayeyawady, Bago regions, Shan State and Rakhine State.
Local investment in hotels and tourism increased to US$526.79 million as of March.
Also, 48 new hotels offering 37,024 rooms are due to open across the country over the next three months, according to the tourism ministry.
Ministry of Hotels and Tourism director, Hlaing Oo, said: “Nay Pyi Taw, Mandalay, Bagan and Inlay regions have seen a massive influx of tourists on top of the high volume visiting Yangon.”
“This is encouraging foreign companies to consider huge investments in the hotel sector, mainly for five- and four-star hotels in Yangon. The top investor in this sector is Singapore.”
According to the latest data, Singapore leads with investments totalling US$880.46 million, followed by Vietnam with US$440 million, Thailand with US$235.75 million and Japan with US$183.10 million.
Myanmar’s hotel and tourism industry is the fifth top sector to attract foreign investment. Others are energy, oil and gas, manufacturing and mining.

Sourced: ttrweekly