YANGON, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The flight services between Yangon and Bangkok were operating normal despite Thailand's political crisis, according to travel agencies here on Friday.

No cancellation or postponement of flights between the two destinations for those on unavoidable business trip, said the Myanmar Airway International (MAI), adding that but tourists destined to Bangkok were much reduced.

Air ticket price for the MAI remains unchanged but the Thai Airways cut its price under a promotion program.

With Airbus-320, the MAI is flying roundup between Yangon and Bangkok on daily basis.

In addition to Bangkok, the MAI is also operating its regular flight services to such three other destinations as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Gaya, having code-sharing agreements with the Jetstar Asia, Malaysian Airlines and Thai Airways International.

 

Buddhist monks walk through the Shwe Indein Pagoda near Inle lake. Inle, Myanmar's second largest lake which is located 2,980 feet (908 metres) above sea level at Shan Hill, is one of the country's most popular tourist sites.

Photograph by: Soe Zeya Tun, Reuters

Myanmar's military government will offer visas on arrival to boost the country's nascent tourism sector, a travel industry official said on Tuesday.

Tourist visas, which are normally arranged days in advance at an embassy abroad, will now be available at international airports in Mandalay and the biggest city, Yangon, said Tin Tun Aung, secretary of the Myanmar Travel Entrepreneurs Association.

"We heartily welcome it," Tin Tun Aung told Reuters. "I'm sure it will have a strong impact on tourist arrivals to our country."

The cost of the visa will be $30 US and would be valid for 28 days, he added.

Although Myanmar is rich in jungles, beaches and mountains and is dotted with hundreds of golden Buddhist temples, its tourism industry remains largely undeveloped.

Total tourist arrivals in Myanmar during for the fiscal year 2009-10 stood at 300,000, compared with 255,288 for the same period a year earlier. Some 315,536 people travelled to Myanmar in the 2005-06 period, official data showed.

Many potential visitors are deterred by the poor reputation of the country and its hardline military rulers, who are accused of corruption, stifling democratic freedoms and presiding in decades of human rights abuses.

Dash of colour : Shop at Pangsau, Myanmar.

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World Myanmar

The Stilwell Road, linking India with Myanmar and China during World War II, is alive with history. Inspired by the explorations of journalist Arun Veembur who met with a tragic end en route, SHYAM G. MENON goes the whole way…

Past the dusty, coal-smeared roads of Ledo a large board with a long forgotten railway track nearby leading to a long gone bridge announced the start of the Stilwell Road. Officially it was National Highway 153. Across the river, the old track led to the Lekhapani station. Once the eastern most tip of the Indian Railways, the last train here was in February 1997. Now the tracks end at Ledo from where during World War II, General Joseph Stilwell of the US Army built a road into Myanmar to connect with the famous Burma Road leading to China. Technically speaking, if the world would set aside boundaries and conflicts, the road I was on would take me to Kunming, 1737 kilometers away. What a thought!

The Stilwell Road's construction and the preceding airlift, flying in supplies from Assam to Yunnan in China across mountains exceeding 10,000ft in elevation, is considered one of the most remarkable chapters of World War II. It was necessitated following the Japanese invasion of China and the consequent inability of Allied Forces to supply China by sea. To make matters worse, the Japanese land thrust towards India from South East Asia, cut off access to the Burma Road once Myanmar fell. The airlift from Assam – called “Flying the Hump” – became a legend in aviation history. Flown by American and Chinese pilots, several aircraft were lost on this route at a mountainous knot on the planet where the combination of altitude, rain bearing clouds and powerful winds made flying terribly difficult. Some of the air strips associated with the Second World War airlift have since come under Indian Air Force charge and are still functional at Dibrugarh. As are the tea estates which lent their names to the air strips, provided accommodation for the airmen and whose personnel – through the Indian Tea Association – were associated with building transport infrastructure in these parts, not to mention, taking care of the refugees that poured into India when Myanmar fell to the Japanese. The 3727ft-high Pangsau Pass in the Patkai Hills was among places they had crossed into India. That's where the Stilwell Road was headed.

The area was like a history book come alive. At the Jairampur camp of the Assam Rifles in Arunachal Pradesh, soldiers recently recovered two vintage machine guns while tilling land for cultivation. Down the road was the official World War II cemetery, with almost 1000 graves, many of them Chinese. Among them was the grave of Major Hsiao Chu Ching of the “Independent Engineers of Chinese Army stationed in India,” born July 1913 in Hapeh Province and died, December 1943. Less than 100 feet away was the newly erected memorial. I was on my way to the 2010 Pangsau Pass Winter Festival at Nampong, last settlement on the Stilwell Road before it crosses the pass into Myanmar. The festival has built a buzz around the road highlighting its potential for trade. At the festival's inaugural ceremony attended by Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, speakers welcomed the tribal artistes from both sides of the border and hoped the road would be opened for trade.

Working together to promote South-East Asia could help the region attract more first-time tourists than countries going it alone, an academic from The University of Queensland says.

UQ School of Tourism senior lecturer and researcher Dr Noel Scott said backpackers from Europe and South America were likely to want to go to several countries in the region, rather than just one.

“Going to Cambodia and Laos as well might be more attractive than just going to Vietnam for such a long trip,” Dr Scott said.

The comments came after tourism ministers from 10 countries decided to scrap the brand name Asean in favour of the more well-know South-East Asia to describe an area stretching from Myanmar to Indonesia in their marketing materials.

But Dr Scott said the ministers had to be aware that only changing a name did not go far enough, with a need for a co-ordinated marketing strategy, a dedicated staff and budget.

“An active co-operation of stakeholders with strategic planning is needed,” he said.

People living in South-East Asia travelled between countries for holidays, making marketing of tourist destinations such as Singapore in nearby countries a valuable exercise, he said.

But there were more advantages in working together when it came to attracting tourists from further afield, he said.

“I have looked at how people travel in South-East Asia and whether they go to one country or several countries. I found a significant proportion go to a number of South-East Asian countries during the same trip.

That is a prima-face case of the benefit of working co-operatively together.”

It was especially important to attract first-time travellers, such as young backpackers, because they tended to return to a region they liked, Dr Scott said.

“First-time travellers to an area want to get an idea of what it is all about. They often go back to particular places.

“People who have been to see many parts of Europe may decide to go back and just spend 10 days in Tuscany.

“You want the first-timers and convert them to regular customers. That is where you could target people in the long-haul markets.

“There is sufficient evidence to show it would be an advantage to work together on attracting travellers from some long-haul markets – and getting the first-timers in.”

Media: Noel Scott (0402 825 426) or Erik de Wit (0417 088 772)

Myanmar Tourism News

YANGON, April 8 (Xinhua) -- The number of tourists visiting Myanmar's famous tourist site of Shwedagon Pagoda in the former capital of Yangon reached 55,447 in the first three months of 2010, nearly doubled compared with the same period of 2009 which showed 31,113, according to the Board of Trustee of the pagoda Thursday.

During the three months' period, the authorities earned over 277,000 U.S. dollars through entrance fees of 5 U.S. dollars from each foreign visitor.

The monthly tourist arrivals were registered as 20,364 in January, 19,140 in February and 15,943 in March.

During the 11 years starting 1999, the year 2006 topped the largest number of tourists visiting the pagoda with 151,262 whereas the least number of 78,323 was recorded for 2008 which was blamed by the impact of cyclone Nargis, the compiled figures showed.

In 2009, a total of 113,529 foreigners visited the tourist site