PING LONG - Myanmar Travel and Tour Agent Information

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.

A YANGON company last week celebrated the launch of a weekly passenger boat service to islands in the Myeik Archipelago.

Khin maung Kyi and Associates Trading Company launched the service on January 23 using the Chindwin, a five-deck cruise boat which can accommodate 440 passengers.

The Chindwin would call at Myeik and also visit some of the hundreds of islands in the archipelago, including Co Co Island, about 260 miles southwest of Yangon, which was once used by the British colonial authorities as a penal colony. A round trip to Co Co Island would take four days.

Passengers on the Chindwin would have a choice of restaurants serving either Myanmar, Chinese or European cuisine.

King Maung Kyi and Associates has operated two-hour evening cruises on the Yangon and Hlaing rivers since 1996. The cruises, operated on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays between October and April. The company was also considering the introduction of a cruise boat service to destinations in Rakhine State.

ORGANIZERS have welcomed an increase in the number of foreign tourists at the fourth annual Naga festival held in the picturesque mountain country of northern Sagaing Division earlier this month.

The festival was held this year at Layshe, about 480 kilometres northwest of Sagaing, from January 12 to 16.

A feature of the festival is a series of spectacular dance performances by hundreds of chanting Naga tribesmen wearing traditional clothing and head-dresses made of hornbill feathers.

There were 178 foreign and 40 Myanmar tourists at the festival, said Phoenix Travel and Tours Company, which has organized the event for the past three years.

To reach the site for this year, visitors traveled by plane from Mandalay to Homalin, where they boarded boats for a journey up the Chindwin River to Htamanthi.

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.

THE first music concert to raise funds for sustainable development and tourism in the southern part of Myanmar will be held at Yangon's Mya Yeik Nyo Hotel on January 31.

The main purpose of the concert is to provide necessary infrastructure to benefit the residents of Salone villages, the ethnic group also known as Sea Gypsies.

Twenty well-known vocalists and music groups - including Ringo, Graham, R.Zarni, Phyo Gyi, Htoo-L-Linn, Htun Eindra Bo and Tin Zar Maw - will perform.

The development of tourism also helps raise the living standards of local people by offering more job opportunities.

The four-day Salone Traditional Festival begins on February 14 at Ma-kyone-galet village on Bo Cho Island, one of about 500 islands that comprise the Myeik Archipelago.