While the Chinese visitors arrive in numbers, the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism is reluctunt to relax the law concerning the qualifications of the Chinese tour guides and insist that 147 certified guides they can offer to the Chinese tourists are enough. To become a guide, one should attend special training provided by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism and pass accreditation exams.
The number of direct flights from Chinese cities to Myanmar also increases. Four Chinese airlines now fly to the Mandalay International Airport; and three more – to Yangon which is also served by three Singaporean airlines and one from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Every week Myanmar welcomes 800 tourists from China but many of them arrive with zero-budget tour packages or visit their friends or relatives and thus do not spend anything at all while in Myanmar – not to speak about hiring private tour guides. The Ministry of Tourism underlines that the country does need Chinese tourists but it is not the high number of arrivals that matters; it is the money the tourists are ready to spend.
Myanmar Relies on Chinese Tourists But Wants Them to Spend More
News in Asia
Since the Rakhine State crisis, the number of Western tourists in Myanmar has declined considerably. On this background the increasing numbers of arrivals of Chinese tourists look very promising.