Myanmar hotels reach 1,300

YANGON There are more than 1,300 hotels operating in Myanmar according to a Ministry of Hotels and Tourism report released last week.

Global New Light of Myanmar quoted the ministry figures saying up to the end of last month the country has 1,361 hotels with 53,355 rooms nationwide.

Of that, there are 342 hotels with over 16,000 rooms in the Yangon Region, 179 hotels with nearly 7,300 rooms in Mandalay Region, 63 hotels with around 5,100 rooms in the capital Nay Pyi Taw, 81 hotels with over 2,700 rooms in Bagan and NyaunU, 24 hotels with 1,163 rooms in Ngwehsaung Beach, 23 hotels with 874 rooms in Chaungtha Beach, and 120 hotels with about 3,600 rooms in Taunggyi of Shan State.

To provide better services for both local and foreign visitors the ministry revoked some restrictions on licences, the report said.

The ministry will cut licence fees by 50%, from 1 October, to support the country’s emerging tourism industry.

Licences granted by the ministry are for hotels, tour companies, tour guides and tourist transport firms. Licence fees are different for each category.

A hotel licence costs between K200,000 (USD168.70) and K1.9 million (USD1,602.65) depending on the size of the project; a tour company licence costs K400,000 (USD337.40); a tour guide licence K50,000 (USD42.17); and a tourist transportation licence between K50,000 (USD42.17) and K500,000 (USD421.75).

Up until the end of last month, the ministry granted nearly 2,200 licences to tour operators, over 930 transport licences, around 3,950 tour guild licences and over 2700 local tour guild licences, the report added.

The country welcomed 4.6 million foreign visitors last year, an increase of 52% compared with 2014. The ministry estimates tourist arrivals will reach 5.5 million this year.

The ministry estimates tourist arrivals are likely to reach 7.5 million by 2019.