NEWS - Nearly 300,000 Tourists Visi

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Subject: NEWS - Nearly 300,000 Tourists Visit Myanmar in 1998-99

Nearly 300,000 Tourists Visit Myanmar in 1998-99

               Xinhua
               03-AUG-99

               YANGON (Aug. 4) XINHUA - A total of 292,282 foreign
               tourists visited Myanmar in the fiscal year 1998-99 which
               ended in March, of whom 172,007 came by land routes
               through border points. 

               According to the latest figures published by the
country's
               Central Statistical Organization, the number of tourists
who
               visited Myanmar in the fiscal year increased by 27,160 as
               compared with the previous year. 

               Despite some rise in the number of tourists, Myanmar's
               tourism business climate is still unfavorable as partly
               impacted by the Asian financial crisis. Hotels occupancy
rate
               is low with most of the rooms left vacant. 

               By the end of 1998, there were 523 hotels with 14,714
               rooms in Myanmar, while there were only 39 hotels with
               1,240 rooms 10 years ago in 1988, according to the
               statistics. 

               Since Myanmar adopted the open-door economic policy in
               1988, foreign investment in the sector of hotels and
tourism
               has reached 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in 30 projects. 

               To promote the development of its tourism industry,
               Myanmar has signed a memorandum of understanding on
               cooperation with other member countries of the
Association
               of Southeast Asian Nations. 

               The country targets to boost the number of tourist
arrivals to
               500,000 in the current fiscal year of 1999-2000.