Tourism ministry to cut admin charges in half to spur growth

A monk walks through a field near a temple in Bagan, one of Myanmar’s most popular tourist destinations. Photo: EPA
​The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism is cutting administrative charges it levies on operators of tourism-related business in half, in order to promote more foreign investment into the sector and more foreign visitors to Myanmar.

A list of updated administrative costs will be released on October 1, affecting operators of hotels and guest houses, tour companies, tourism-related transportation services and tour guides, U San Yu, assistant director at the tourism ministry in Mandalay told The Myanmar Times. The cost of a host of business activities - including renewing a licence, altering the name of business or moving location - will be cut by 50 percent, he added.

The intention is to help draw more foreign visitors to Myanmar by allowing the tourism sector to expand and provide more services, he said. “There were a lot of reductions [in administrative charges] in previous years, but there is still not [enough] foreign investment in travel operations,” he said.

Myanmar’s tourism ministry has also made it easier for travel businesses to receive a licence by allowing online applications since July 1.

But lower charges are unlikely to placate concerned tourism entrepreneurs asking the government for a more favourable business environment. Tour guides, for example, are facing competition from unlicensed operators that do not face the same tax treatment or licence payments, U Ye Myat Tun, chair of the Mandalay Tour Guide Association, told The Myanmar Times.

“It is good to cut the charges by 50pc and that will help us develop travel operations,” he said. “But tour guides like us still have to pay a high rate of tax, and we need relevant departments to help ban illegal tour guides from operating.”

The tourism ministry in Mandalay has granted licences to 1279 tour guide operations, 115 travel companies and 183 hotels, according to ministry data.

Source : Myanmar Times

Mandalay - Bangkok - Mandalay by MNA

Mandalay - Bangkok - Mandalay by MAI

Source : maiair.com

Myanmar carrier faces fresh competition on Hong Kong route from low-cost international

​Budget Hong Kong airline HK Express is competing with state carrier Myanmar National Airlines (MNA) on the Yangon-Hong Kong route, and will also start a two-month run flying to Mandalay.



HK Express general manager Sherman Luk (right) cuts a ribbon with Myanmar officials at the carrier’s launch ceremony on September 1. Photo: SuppliedHK Express general manager Sherman Luk (right) cuts a ribbon with Myanmar officials at the carrier’s launch ceremony on September 1. Photo: Supplied

HK Express started Hong Kong-to-Yangon return flights yesterday, which it will operate four days a week – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

“The first flight is 90 percent full with Hong Kong people excited to explore Myanmar,” said Sherman Luk, general manager of HK Express.

The low-cost carrier will compete with fellow Hong Kong airline Dragon Air, Malaysia’s AirAsia and Myanmar’s MNA, which all operate the same route.

“It will have some impact [on our business],” said Captain Than Tun, chief executive of MNA, which only restarted international flights in 2015 after two decades of domestic operations. The carrier is already facing difficulties competing with more established foreign airlines for international traffic, he added.

“We haven’t had much time to prepare to compete with our peers because we’re still rebuilding the airline,” he said. MNA is in the middle of a corporatisation process that will eventually see it operate as a private company.

MNA flies to Hong Kong from Yangon four times a week in the low season and operates daily flights in peak tourist season, Capt Tun added.

HK Express will also start return flights from Hong Kong to Mandalay on September 5, and will run those flights twice a week, Mr Luk said. The firm will be the only carrier offering direct flights from Mandalay to Hong Kong, but is only operating the route until October 28.

Kayley So, a public relations officer for HK Express, would only say that “operational reasons” were behind the two-month window for Mandalay flights. But the airline will “explore any opportunity to operate the Mandalay-Hong Kong route in the future”, she said.

HK Express will be the third international airline to start Mandalay flights within the space of a week. MNA began thrice-weekly Mandalay-Bangkok flights on August 31, and Myanmar Airways International (MAI), the only other international carrier in Myanmar, started its own Mandalay-Bangkok flights yesterday.

Daw Aye Mra Tha, MAI’s head of marketing and public relations, said that the airline has applied to offer a direct flight to Kolkata, but was not looking at Hong Kong.

“There aren’t many passengers flying Yangon to Hong Kong,” she said. “It’s more a seasonal flight during Chinese New Year and the Myanmar Gems Emporium [in June].”

Source : MYANMAR TIMES