Myanmar: Dual pricing a pain point

YANGON Myanmar Tourism Federation and the Tourism Authority of Thailand recently signed a MoU to promote tourism between the two countries under the tagline Two countries – One Destination, but will it resolve major paint points?

They claim it will have positive impact on the tourism industries in both Thailand and Myanmar, but neither organisation is in a position to introduce measures to streamline travel and remove the pain points plaguing overland travel. That is in the hands of ministries and they are ignoring even the most obvious pain points that hinder tourism growth.

Thailand and Myanmar share a 1,800 km border, but there are only three official overland border posts (Tachileik, Myawaddy and Kaw Thaung) where tourists can enter and exit Myanmar if they using the popular e-visa.

Travellers should be warned there are other sites that appear during an e-Visa Google search that are run by private firms. They are not officially recognised. Travellers should apply directly at the government site paying the USD50 fee with their credit card. Confirmation usually takes 24-hours.

According to the memorandum of understanding tour operators and travel agents in both countries will be offered assistance to create better programmes. The two agencies claim it will ensure that familiarisation trips are organised and promotions that combine both destinations.

However, they gave no details of the content of the MoU, or the kind of assistance tour operators can expect from the agencies who signed it.

In the case of Tachilek the most popular checkpoint in the far north,  two-country fam trips have been organised by private groups, such as the Chiang Rai PATA Chapter, without any assistance from the TAT office in Chiang Rai.

The press statement of the two agencies failed to identify the major problem facing visitors travelling from Chiang Rai to points in Myanmar. Airlines double the fares for foreigners on domestic services out of Tachilek airport. They will also have to book the flight locally through a travel agency in Tachilek town after crossing the border. None of the airlines offer online booking and payment for flights out of Tachilek.

This is a major pain point and some travel executives told TTR Weekly they believe Myanmar is now the only country in Asia with a dual airfare policy for domestic airline sectors. Vietnam previously inflated fare prices for foreigners, but has adopted a single pricing framework in recent years for all passengers flying domestic routes regardless of nationality.

This is not true of Myanmar and its agencies and federations fail to address the issue which is clearly discriminatory and impacts on travellers from neighbouring Thailand.

“There are over 25 daily flights between the two countries” said May Myat Mon Win, vice chairman (Marketing), Myanmar Tourism Federation “connecting Bangkok and Chiang Mai with destinations like Yangon, Nay Pyi Taw and Mandalay”.

Read more...