"THERE IS much doom and gloom in Myanmar’s tourism industry. A sharp decline in higher-spending visitors from Western countries, who have spurned Myanmar as a destination because of the crisis in Rakhine State, has been offset by a huge increase in visitors from Asian countries, especially China. However, the number of tourists from China travelling on cheap package holidays known as zero budget tours has generated debate about sustainability and who benefits from tourism. Despite many challenges, veteran hotel entrepreneur and philanthropist Daw Yin Myo Su tries to see the positives. Her many years in the industry – back to when her family ran a small guesthouse in Nyaung Shwe during the socialist era – help to put the downturn since 2016 into perspective. After all, it’s not like Myanmar hasn’t been through similar troughs before. And even if the violence in Rakhine had not prompted a drop in Western arrivals, growth would likely have slowed from the breakneck pace of the U Thein Sein government, when Myanmar was flavour of the month and visitor arrivals were increasing by at least 50 percent a year..."