BKK POST: New hotel opens in Ran

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

March 22, 1998


                                      



                                  BURMA

              New hotel opens in
              Rangoon despite
              lack of tourist
              arrivals

              Prem presides over opening ceremony

              AFP

              Burma and Thai officials have officially opened a new luxury
              hotel in Rangoon despite the failure of a high-profile effort to
              attract tourists.

              The New Light of Myanmar said former premier Prem
              Tinsulanonda opened the 303-room hotel built with 100 percent
              Thai investment and estimated to have cost $38 million.

              Located downtown overlooking Kandawgyi Lake, the Nikko
              Royal Lake Hotel is the latest addition to the city's top-grade
              hotels built in the expectation of a rush of tourist arrivals.

              Gen Prem, privy councillor, was accompanied by army chief
              Gen Chettha Thanajaro.

              In a speech at the opening ceremony, Hotels and Tourism
              Minister Maj-Gen Saw Lwin said the military junta had given
              priority to developing the tourist industry during the current
              economic turmoil.

              Without giving figures, he said investment in the sector was on
              the increase. Latest official statistics show about $7 billion to
              have been invested in Burma since it opened its economy in
              1988.

              However, the authorities have been forced to indefinitely extend
              their Visit Burma Year 1996 campaign as it failed to draw
              significant numbers of foreign visitors.

              The capital is littered with new hotels built to accommodate the
              expected influx of visitors, which have so far remained largely
              empty.

              But most construction goes on despite a decline in business
              which has forced several big hotels including the Sedona Hotel
              and Traders Hotel to cut back on staff.

              Military authorities recently closed down 135 of the country's
              estimated 600 tour companies, saying they were engaged in
              unauthorised activities.

              "We are going for quality rather than quantity," a source said,
              adding some $34 million had been earned by active companies
              from the tourist trade.

              According to the source, the firms were shut because they were
              avoiding taxes in addition to taking advantage of their status
              which entitles them to international phone lines, faxes, cellular
              phones and business passports.

              Burma was expecting over 200,000 tourists during the
              1997-1998 season, an increase of about 10 percent over last
              year despite the ongoing economic crisis in the Southeast Asian
              region. 




                                      




© The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 1998
Contact the Bangkok Post
Web Comments: Webmaster 

Last Modified: Sun, Mar 22, 1998