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Domestic travel agencies are under pressure as more Burmese turn their backs on DIY trips to the country’s top destinations and competitively priced holidays in regional countries.
by KYAW PHONE KYAW | Frontier
After Myanmar began its transition to democracy in 2011, tourism boomed, with a surge in foreign tourists and the country quickly becoming one of the world’s top emerging tourist destinations.
Domestic tourism has also benefited, as more and more Burmese are traveling across the country, from the beaches of the Bay of Bengal to the temples of Bagan and beyond.
In 2014 and 2015 alone, market demand led to an increase in the number of travel agencies focusing on domestic tourists by about 300 each, according to the Union of Myanmar Tourism Associations.
Many of these domestic travel agencies are not registered with the Directorate of Investments and Companies. However, to give an indication of the size of the industry, DICA’s website lists 2,250 registered companies with business names that identify them as travel agencies.
Most domestic travel agencies offer package tours that include transportation, accommodation, meals, and a guide if needed. The most popular package tour destinations for domestic tourists include the Bay of Bengal beach resorts of Chandak and Ngwe Saung on the west coast of the Ayeyarwady region and scenic spots in Kalun State. Pilgrimage trips to Bagan temples in the Mandalay region and Kyaikhtiyo (Golden Rock) in Mon state are also heavily booked.
In the early days of the boom, many of these companies lured clients by advertising their services on social media.
However, there is evidence that as the number of domestic tourists increases, more people are making their own arrangements: since early 2015, there has been a sharp decline in social media advertising by travel agencies promoting tours to destinations in Myanmar.
“Burmese are starting to feel that they don’t want to join tour groups and prefer to create their own travel itineraries,” said Ma Kay Khine Wint, founder of Yangon-based Royal Caravan Travel & Tours.
“Most travel agencies schedule short trips that are time-crunched, and people who want more time to spare while traveling will avoid traveling with a group,” Kay Khine Wint told reporters. border.
The high cost of hotel accommodation has also contributed to the downturn in package tours, as it makes it harder for tour operators to offer tours at affordable rates, she said.
“The 45-seat buses couldn’t be filled by tour groups, so we had to change our marketing strategy and arrange tours for two or four people to visit specific destinations,” Kay Khine Wint said.
Many travel agencies no longer offer package tours and instead rely on hotel and flight bookings.
U Naung Naung Han, secretary-general of the Federation of Myanmar Tourism Associations, said domestic travel agencies need to be more innovative to overcome the slump in package tours, such as launching more activities at destinations.
“In a beach destination, there needs to be more activities than swimming; there is nothing new to do at the destination, and people get bored and don’t want to go anymore,” Naung Naung Han told border.
Tourists sit on the side of the temple to watch the sunset over Bagan. (Theint Mon Soe aka J | Frontier)
Another reason for the slump in domestic tourism is that more Burmese are going abroad for holidays, market analysts say.
This trend is reflected in the advertisements of local tour companies, which are increasingly focusing on trips to neighboring countries and the increasingly popular excursions in Myanmar.
Intense competition in Thailand’s tourism industry means a vacation at a beach resort in Phuket costs about the same as a few days in Ngwe Saung.
Ma Nang Su Hnin Htwe, public relations manager at the Yangon office of online hotel booking site Jovago, which launched in Myanmar in late 2015, said “more and more” people are using its services. Nang Su Hnin Htwe, who is also a travel blogger, said the challenge for the tourism industry is to ensure destinations remain attractive.
“The problem is, if a destination becomes famous and attracts more tourists who don’t litter, it loses its beauty and people want to go to a new place,” she said border.
Naung Naung Han agrees that destination management is critical.
“Cooperation between the federal government, regional authorities, hoteliers and local residents is needed in destination management,” Naung Naung Han said.
“Destination management includes maintaining attractions to keep them clean and tidy, and to provide a range of activities for tourists,” he said.
Hotels should also offer packages during low seasons to attract tourists, he said, and Nang Su Hnin Htwe echoed.
“It’s May, and even though people are less interested in traveling, hotel prices haven’t dropped that much,” she said.
Naung Naung Han also suggested offering financial incentives to people living in tourist destinations to carry out activities or programs to make tourists more interested in attractions.
Regional countries are increasingly turning to Myanmar as a source of tourists. The Tourism Authority of Thailand is running Burmese-language ads on Facebook, Thailand’s most popular social media platform, to promote the kingdom as a tourist destination. Vietnam and Bali in Indonesia are also becoming popular destinations for tourists from Myanmar.
Some stakeholders are disappointed that Myanmar has not done more to support its domestic tourism industry and reverse the trend of a growing number of small tour operators closing down.researcher border Four out of five agencies that had advertised on Facebook over the past few years were found to have shut down.
“The government should focus more on domestic tourism,” Naung Naung Han said.
“When the government hears the word ‘tourism’, it only thinks of foreign tourists. Domestic tourism contributes a lot to the tourism industry, and policymakers need to change their thinking,” he said.
Naung Naung Han said he was unaware of the government’s policies to promote domestic tourism and that it was time to formulate them.
“Clear policies are crucial to attract investment,” he said.
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