Hotels in Ngapali offer amenities of an international standard and are some of the most luxurious in Myanmar.

AS the tourism industry continues to develop in Myanmar, more high-quality hotels are opening in leading tourist destinations in the country, including Mandalay, Bagan, Taunggyi and Inle Lake.
Before Visit Myanmar Year was organised in 1996 there were only 10 hotels in Mandalay; there are now 67 options for accommodation with a total of 2747 rooms.

In addition, there are currently eight hotel projects under development by local investors, all of them in the downtown area. Two of the projects are expected to be completed by the upcoming peak tourist season.

“Hoteliers are aiming to provide enough rooms to accommodate one million tourist arrivals, the number that is expected to visit Myanmar this year,” said U Aung Khine, the chairman of the Mandalay Zone Myanmar Hotelier Association.
He said that in fact there are already more than enough rooms in Mandalay to meet this demand, but the goal now is to make accommodation more convenient so more tourists will be attracted to Myanmar.

“At the moment we have to struggle to compete for a small market, but there is great potential for it to expand,” he said.

U Aung Khine said it is important to make travel more convenient for visitors, from streamlining the visa procedures, to improving tourism infrastructure and increasing the availability of transportation.

“The scenery of Myanmar is not enough to attract new people to the country and improve the hotel industry,” said U Khin Shwe, the chairman of Myanmar Hotelier Association. “We also have to consider the convenience of the travelers – we must improve electricity and water supplies, transportation and other facilities.”

As part of its effort to support the rapid but balanced development of hotels at major tourist destinations, the association has identified nine zones that attract the most foreign visitors: Mandalay, Bagan, Taunggyi-Inle, Ngapali, Chaungtha, Ngwe Saung, Tachileik, Rakhine, Pyin Oo Lwin.

“Pagodas alone are not enough to attract visitors. It is important to diversify by promoting new destinations, opening more venues for entertainment and developing hotels with innovative designs but built using traditional Myanmar materials,” U Khin Shwe said.

“By developing more sites of interest at a destination, we can increase the number of nights that tourists will stay in their hotel,” he said.

There are many still-untouched islands off the coast of Myanmar, and some of the already known destinations are rarely visited by foreigners; meanwhile, some neighbouring countries are having trouble attracting more tourists to areas that have in the past few years been heavily visited, he said.

“There is great promise in cooperating with neighbouring countries to provide multi-nation package tours that would include new destinations in Myanmar,” U Khin Shwe said

The hotel business would also be boosted if Myanmar hosted more international conferences, meetings, sporting events and festivals, he said.
He also said the industry would improve if more Myanmar people got into the habit of staying in hotels when they travelled around the country.

U Khin Shwe said most Myanmar people stay with relatives or friends rather than in hotels when they travel, and not many people travel for leisure; when they do, their spending power is generally low and they do not want to use their limited funds on hotel rooms.

“If people have more money to spend, naturally they will travel more. So we need locals to improve their spending power,” he said.

He said the Myanmar Hotelier Association tells member hoteliers that even if they are unable to compete with hotels from countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in terms of size and modern facilities, they can be competitive in terms of hospitality and service.