PING LONG - Myanmar Travel and Tour Agent Information

THE government is ready to promote the Myeik Archipelago as a major tourist destination and is inviting foreigners to invest in the area, the Deputy Minister of Hotels and Tourism, Brigadier General Aye Myint Kyu, said last week.

Speaking at the first annual Salone Festival, an event arranged to promote tourism in the area, he said sensitivities linked to the border had previously prevented mass tourism in the area, but regulations would be eased to encourage development.

The Myeik archipelago comprises more than 800 pristine islands spread over 14,000 square miles. The forested, coral-fringed islands teem with wildlife and are almost completely devoid of tourist facilities. The largely uninhabited island are home to a small number of Salone people, who are also known as Moken or 'Sea Gypsies'.

Access to the islands was closed to foreign tourists from the late 1940s until 1997. Today, 43 tour operators, mostly live-aboard diving operations based on Phuket in Thailand have partial access to the area.

Tour businesses seeking access to the region are required to buy a two-year licence from the Directorate of Hotels and Tourism for US$1000 and submit passengers and crew lists and detailed itineraries to the authorities five days before visiting the archipelago.

THE Myanmar Marketing Committee of the Myanmar Tourism Promotion Board is panning to organize a series of road shows throughout Asia in the next htree months.

"We are holding the road shows to promote Myanmar as a tourism destination for Asian," said Major Selvakumar, the chairman of the committee, most of whose members are private companies involved in the travel sector.

Shows are planned for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan during March, April and May. A presentation for travel agents in India is also planned, he said.

The committee, established in 1996 and placed under the control of the promotion board when it was formed in June 2000, will also arrange familiarization trips to Myanmar for travel agents from the target countries from April to September.

Meanwhile, two booths representing Myanmar tourism organizations will be on display at the International Travel Bourse in Berlin from March 12 to 16. One of the booths, the Myanmar Tourism Pavilion, will be organized by the Myanmar Marketing Committee of the Myanmar Tourism Promotion Board, while the other, TourismMyanmar.com, will be run by the Union of Myanmar Travel Association.

MYANMAR continues to remain free of the bird flu outbreak that has wreaked havoc in the poultry industry in other Asia countries, the director of the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department, Dr Than Htun, said last week.

He dismissed rumours about an outbreak of the disease at a poultry farm at Hmawbi, about 30 miles north of Yangon, saying tests on birds that had died at the farm early this month showed they had contracted Newcastle disease.

He said a bird flu precaution committee formed on January 24 had inspected more than seven million birds at about 6000 poultry farms up until February 19.

The department had also begun issuing health certificates since February 9 to businesses that supply day-old chickens to poultry farms and some broiler farmers had been reluctant to buy chickens before the certificates were introduced.　

In another precautionary move, veterinarians from the Yangon City Development Committee are inspecting birds sold at the Central Poultry Market in Mingalar Taung Nyunt township.

SOURCE: Excerpts & articles from the Myanmar Times

A NEW transportation service between Kawthoung in southern Myanmar and Thailand's Phuket Island will be launched in mid March, a Myanmar travel agent said last week.

Two locally owned cruise ships that can each accommodate 250 passengers will be used for the transportation service, which will run four times a week, but the charge has yet to be determined.

STAGE one of a new luxury hotel, the Amata Resort and Spa, will open at Ngapali Beach early next month, said the hotel's manager, Marvin Talbot.

The hotel is situated on 5.2 acres of land and will ultimately comprise 100 rooms, including attached bungalows, single bungalows and double bungalows. Twenty-five of the rooms will become available for guests in March.

Mr Talbot said he hopes that the hotel will be fully operational by the next high tourist season commencing in October this year, and he is aiming for an 80 or 90 per cent occupancy rate. "We have decided to build this new hotel because the the demand for hotel rooms in Ngapali is very high," Mr Talbot said.

According to the ministry of hotels and tourism, Ngapali Beach attracted more than 20,000 guests during the last high tourist season, and there are six hotels with 201 rooms.

US architects designed the hotel, and construction took seven months. The hotel has already recruited a staff of 80 and will employ another 70 during the next high tourist season when the hotel is fully operational.

Room charges will range from $100 to $400, and facilities include a freshwater swimming pool, tennis court, spa and health centre, and library. Some rooms will feature bathtubs, e-mail services, IDD telephones and water purification systems.

ADVENTURE travel and eco-tourism are set to boom in remote northern Myanmar, based around the town of Putao, and the government is keen to assist the development of the region, said a tourism official.

"But to successfully draw on Putao's full tourism potential, all key players must participate in building and maintaining eco-tourism features. This must involve not only the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism but also all ministries, private tour companies, hotels, business people and guides," he said.

"Located in the far north of Myanmar and possessing pristine nature with snow-capped mountain ranges, Putao has a huge potential for eco-tourism," said the Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt in an address at a meeting in Putao late last December.

Unspoilt wilderness and national parks attract trekkers, hikers and nature lovers. Snow-covered mountains - including Myanmar's tallest mountains, Khakaborazi and Phonekan - have the potential to attract mountaineers and skiers, a market as yet untapped in Myanmar.

Last December two Germans, one of whom owns Myanmar Bavarain Travels, investigated the possibilities of skiing on the 4300-metre-high slopes of the region's Mount Phangram.

Another virtually untapped market is the white-water rafting and kayaking market. Last year a team of kayakers and rafters, comprise of six foreigners from Australia, United Kingdom, USA and South Africa, explored the rivers in the area.

Other attractions in northern Myanmar included part of the infamous World War II-era Burma Road, Myanmar's longest rope suspension bridge, jungle regions, remnants of the British colonial era and remote hill tribe villagers.

A YANGON company that has taken over the lease of the luxury river boats, the Pandaw I, plans to offer trips on the Ayeyarwaddy River upsteam from Mandalay and to destinations on the Chindwin River, it said last week.

The Interconnection company, a partnership involving Sun Far Travel and Orchestra Travel and gems trader, has leased the boat from the Ministry of Transport for five years.

It spent about K150 million upgrading the 16-berth, five-deck vessel and has also changed its name to Pandaw 1947, to mark the year in which it was built in Scotland, said its executive director, Mr Andrea Massari.

The vessel would operate between Bagan and Mandalay and to destinations along the Ayeyarwaddy upsteam from Mandalay.

It took over the operation of the boat last month after the previous five-year lease between the ministry and the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company expired. The IFC continues to operate both the Pandaw II, which operates a service between Bagan and Mandalay, and the Pandaw III, which provides a service linking Mandalay, Bagan and Pyay.

At Htamanthi they transferred to trucks for a six-hour journey along winding mountain roads to Layshe.

The visitors are accommodated in temporary bamboo huts built in the traditional style. All meals provided free of charge.

ONLINE visa applications have begun flowing in to the Immigration and National Registration Department since the e-visa system was launched on January 21, a departmental official said last week.

"Myanmar is the first country in Southeast Asia to offer e-visa," said U Pyone Maung Maung, the joint secretary of the e-National Task Force, which is overseeing a series of e-government projects.

Applicants are required to fill in the application form for processing by the Immigration and National Registration Department. Approved applications are then returned by e-mail.

Travelers will need to carry a print-out of the approved application form to show to Immigration officials on their arrival in Myanmar.