Myanmar hopes new Mandalay airport

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Myanmar hopes new Mandalay airport will let tourism take off

AFP, Rangoon, 14 September 2000.  Myanmar hopes the opening of a new
international airport in the old capital Mandalay will boost its tourist 
industry,
reports said Thursday.

"The fragile Myanmar tourism industry will receive a much-anticipated boost
when the new international airport at Mandalay, the country's cultural and
religious heartland, opens next week," the Myanmar Times weekly said.

The airport, 720 kilometres (450 miles) north of here, which is scheduled
to open on Sunday took four years to build and is big enough for Boeing
747 jets to land. The Times said it has the capacity to handle three million
passengers annually.

About 100 people are expected to fly into Mandalay aboard two chartered
747 aircraft to make their inaugural landing at the airport on Sunday,
the weekly said.

Transport Minister Major General Hla Myint Swe Wednesday inspected
the six-lane access road to the airport and security gate ahead of its Sunday
opening, the official New Light of Myanmar said.

Myanmar's tourism industry is underdeveloped, with the country subject to
a range of sanctions imposed by foreign governments critical of its human
rights performance and refusal to hand over power to Aung San Suu Kyi,
whose National League for Democracy won an overwhelming election
victory in 1990.

Aung San Suu Kyi is staunchly opposed to the development of the tourism
industry, although elements within her National League for Democracy disagree.

Much of the diplomatic community in Yangon also argues it is counter-
productive to close off Myanmar to foreign visitors.