YANGON, Myanmar, Feb. 14 (UPI) — The European Union says it is pledging more development aid to Myanmar since its military rulers began “unprecedented” moves toward democratic reforms.
EU Development Commissioner Andris Piedalgs arrived in Yangon Sunday with an agenda that included a $200 million aid package “to support democratic reforms and inclusive development in the country.”
“The European Union welcomes the unprecedented developments taking place in the country on core values of the EU — democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” Piedalgs said on the eve of his weekend departure.

Meetings with Myanmar President Thein Sein and senior government ministers — as well as with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi — would allow the EU to get a firmer grasp on fast-moving reforms happening in the long-reclusive nation, Piedalgs said.
Suu Kyi is running for a seat in scheduled April 1 parliamentary by-elections, which the EU and the United States regard as a key test of the recent political reforms.
“Continued political progress could lead to a further easing or lifting of restrictive measures by the end of April,” an EU statement said.
About two-thirds of the new aid package is expected to be committed this year with the rest coming in 2013.
As well as aiming to “strengthen civil society actors,” the funding will be used to “finance initiatives in the areas of climate change and forestry” and to “support capacity-building for improved planning, environmental governance and statistics.”
EU foreign ministers last month moved to recognize Myanmar’s political reforms by agreeing to ease travel restrictions on senior government officials, including the suspension of visa bans on Sein and his Cabinet members, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
Piedalgs said another aim of the trip would be to assess the humanitarian situation with a visit to an EU-funded health clinic.
“The momentum of change in Myanmar is impressive and the EU recognizes the need to do all it can to support the country at this time,” he said. “More dialogue will help better policies to emerge, more money for development cooperation will promote economic and social development and help reduce poverty.”
Myanmar’s grinding poverty presents huge problems for efforts aimed at reducing childhood mortality, the EU says. Among children under age 5, there are high rates of death caused by pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria, as well as endemic tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
The EU is already contributing $23.7 million to Myanmar through the multi-donor Three Diseases Fund — launched following the withdrawal of the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria from Myanmar in 2005.
That program “reaches out to those who are most at risk of any of these three diseases, particularly those living in remote and hard-to-reach areas with limited or no access to public health services.”
Officials say 1.7 million confirmed and probable cases of malaria have been treated in Myanmar, while 160,000 new cases of pulmonary TB have been detected and 19,000 people living with HIV have received antiretroviral treatment.
Overall, the European Commission has provided $230 million in development assistance to Myanmar since 1996.

AS tourist arrivals hit a record high in 2011, the number of Myanmar heading overseas continued to grow, Yangon-based companies specialising in outbound tours said.
“The outbound tourism market is really booming, said U Hein Thant, sales and reservation manager from Sun Far Travel and Tours in Yangon.
He said about half of outbound travellers headed to destinations in Southeast Asia.

“Thailand is the top destination, whether it’s for shopping, medical treatment or leisure. [Myanmar] love to visit Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket. After Thailand, the next most popular destinations are Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia,” U Hein Thant said.

However, growth is inhibited by the tight visa restrictions most countries place on travellers from Myanmar and the lack of direct air links to all ASEAN countries.
One significant push factor has been the strong kyat, which appreciated more than 30 percent against the US dollar in 2011 and also rose strongly against regional currencies.

U Lynn Zaw Wai Mang, executive director of Unique Asia Travels and Tours, said the market was growing “quite fast” as a result.
“Demand is growing up to 35pc a year. Last year demand was very high because of the exchange rate, which made travel inside Myanmar almost as expensive as going abroad. People are also starting to think more about going abroad for knowledge, experience and  business,” he said.

One issue for agencies specialising in outbound tours is the lack of Ministry of Hotels and Tourism support.
Outbound agencies are not eligible to register with the ministry and outbound tourism is rarely promoted.
“The outbound market is really booming compared to the past a few years,” said U Htun Lwe, managing director of Golden Image Travel and Tours in Sanchaung township.
“There are many outbound travel agents and there is strong competition between them,” he said.
“If the ministry grants licences it will improve the sector and make it easier for customers to choose a reliable agent.”

Beijing, China – In the past year, Myanmar’s government has implemented a surprising series of liberalising reforms. Facing strong environmental and labour protests by activists and NGOs, President Thein Sein has halted construction of the Chinese-backed Myitsone hydroelectric dam, which would have been one of the largest dams in the world (152m tall) and was projected to supply 3,600 to 6,000MW of electricity, largely to Yunnan Province in China.

In response to similar concerns, Thein Sein also stopped the building of a 4,000MW coal-fired power plant in the new Special Economic Zone, Dawei, where Thailand’s largest construction company, Italian-Thai, is building a deepwater port to support container shipping to compete with Singapore and China. He created a human rights commission that subsequently advocated for the release of the remaining political prisoners in the country.

Then Thein Sein released many of the remaining political prisoners in the country, including comedian Zarganar, and former prime minister Khin Nyunt. International observers, with long entrenched feelings of animosity towards Myanmar’s military rulers, may be feeling somewhat breathless.”

Thinking optimistically – and there appears to be cause for optimism – the April by-elections will be truly free and fair, the government will draft sophisticated laws to attract foreign investment while accommodating domestic concerns (and officials have so far very intelligently requested technical assistance from the IMF, Singapore and the Japanese), perform well in its duties as ASEAN chair in 2014, and comply fully with AFTA (the ASEAN Free Trade Area) requirements by 2015. However, there remains a significant issue, a problem that will likely not go away unless properly dealt with.

Myanmar signs ceasefire with ethnic rebels
That problem is the civil war that has been going on and off since Myanmar’s independence from the British in 1948. Myanmar is a country of diverse ethnicities, and the Bamar (after whom the country gets its other name, Burma), Kachins, Karens, Kayahs, Mons, Chins, Shans, Arakans, Mon, Wa and Pa-O are just a few. Many of these ethnic minority groups have armed factions, fighting battles with the military junta, groups such as the Karen National Union (KNU), the Shan State Army (with a South [SSA-South] and North [SSA-North] division), the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Pa-O National Organisation (PNO), the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the United Wa State Army (UWSA).

Of the more prominent groups, SSA-South, SSA-North, Chin, NMSP and Wa have recently signed ceasefire agreements with the new government. The KIA has not, as of this writing. The government earlier declared that it had signed a ceasefire agreement with the KNU, but recently the KNU has denied it signed such an agreement. More troubling, the ceasefire between SSA-South and the government has likely been destroyed as hostilities recommenced in early February.

KNU Vice-President David Tharckabaw said that the government “wanted to show the world that the longest-running war between the government and a rebel group was over”, but the KNU “want a genuine federal system where the states will have their own autonomy”. The government is optimistic that ceasefire agreements will soon be signed with all armed ethnic groups and the issue will fade, eliminating a major obstacle to Myanmar’s drive to become the next Vietnam in terms of economic success. As always, the actual story is more complicated.

British rule
After the British won three Anglo-Burmese wars, the last being in 1885, Myanmar was called Burma by the British and divided up into the Frontier Areas and Ministerial Burma. The Frontier Areas, the periphery of the country where ethnic minorities were located, was distinct from the centrally located Ministerial Burma, the latter containing Yangon (called Rangoon by the British), the Mon and Rakhine States and the bulk of the Bamar population.

The British ruled Ministerial Burma separately from the Frontier Areas, contributing to a tradition of Western imperialists creating distinctions in conquered countries that led to longstanding armed conflicts post-independence. (To be fair, Myanmar has a rich history of separation and unification, going through several reunifications and frequent warfare among kingdoms long before British rule.)

Divides were not only drawn on ethnic lines; religious distinctions were forged as well. While Buddhism was left relatively unimpeded in Ministerial Burma, missionaries struck out into the Frontier Areas, where they converted many ethnic minorities to Christianity, notably the Karen. Further, ethnic minorities came to respect the British, with many feeling the British presence was a welcome respite from the years of kingdom warfare. The missionaries also provided education to the ethnic minorities, earning the latter’s respect. The British heavily recruited ethnic minorities into the British army. By contrast, Bamar were heavily suspicious of British rule and foreign influences.

When Aung San Suu Kyi’s father, General Aung San, returned with his Thirty Comrades, his Burma Independence Army (BIA) and the Japanese to oust the British – on the rationale that Asians should unite to fight against Western imperialism and European colonialism – pro-British ethnic minorities were seen as traitors. Former soldiers of the British Army tended to be Karens, and two Karens were stabbed with bayonets in public in front of the BIA headquarters, one allegedly for rape, one for theft, and the bodies were subsequently hacked into small pieces. A BIA unit was sent to subjugate Karens in Papun, imprisoning and massacring the elders, looting and incinerating the villages and molesting women.
The BIA unit occupying Kadaingti announced that the Japanese had licenced them to kill Christians. In Myaungmya, the BIA massacred 152 men, women and children in cold blood, set fire to a priest’s house and burned the priest and the two men who were looking after him. Aung San, horrified at the actions of the BIA, managed reconciliation with some Karen leaders, but the Karens never forgot the bloodshed, fighting the government to this day.

In light of these atrocities, ethnic minorities wanted the British to remain behind long enough for Burma to gain full independence so that the British could develop a constitution that would protect them against the Bamar. Several groups, including the Shan, Karen, Kachin and Chin, wanted separation from the union. It was here that Suu Kyi’s father, perhaps the George Washington of Myanmar – fighting off the British, then returning with the British to fight off the Japanese when the Japanese indicated their similar affinity for imperialist rule – used his substantial charisma and influence to broker a deal with the ethnic minority groups to keep the country from Balkanisation a year before independence.

A historic agreement
On February 12, 1947, General Aung San and 23 signatories from the Shan, Kachin and Chin ethnic groups signed the historic Panglong Agreement, which indicated the minorities’ interests in working with the interim government and to agree to the formation of a Union of Myanmar. Four Karen observers attended the conference, along with Mon and Arakanese representatives, but they were considered as part of Ministerial Burma and thus without a proper voice at the table. Other groups, such as the Pa-O, Palaung and Wa, were subsumed under the Shan State. 
However, in reaching the agreement, Aung San made several concessions to the ethnic minority groups, which left unsettled issues of autonomy and rights of minority groups. Even then, the Karen leaders refused to agree, and remained opposed to the elections, engaging in the longest active civil war against the military, lasting 63 years, until signing a ceasefire in January 2012. Most important, Clause 5 of the Panglong Agreement stated: “Full autonomy in internal administration for the Frontier Areas is accepted in principle.”

The spirit of this clause was embodied in the right of secession granted in Myanmar’s first constitution in 1948; only the USSR has had a similar constitutional right. Indeed, the right of secession, which did not vest until ten years after ratification, played a critical role in precipitating the first military takeover (Shans and other ethnic minority groups started voicing their desire to secede around 1957), which eventually led to the permanent instalment of the junta in 1962, which ruled the country through the November 2010 elections.
This discussion is far from being merely academic. This year, the General Secretary of the Shan Democratic Union (SDU), Sai Wansai, wrote in an op-ed for the Shan Herald:
The Panglong Agreement of 1947 was breached by the Burmese military regime in 1962 and also nullified the 1948 Constitution, which formed the basis of the Union of Burma… the union ceased to exist in a formal and legal sense. In other words, there is no more such a political entity called “Union of Burma”Wansai also pointed out that Thein Sein’s government has inserted non-secession clauses in ceasefire agreements with SSA-South, UWSA, NDAA and DKBA, indication that the Panglong Agreement’s Clause 5 and the right of secession in the 1948 constitution were at the forefront of the new government’s concerns:
The conditions are: not to secede from the Union, [to] agree to non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of national unity and perpetuation of national sovereignty, [to] agree to co-operate in joint economic programmes, agree to cooperate in anti-narcotics programmes, formation of political party or to contest elections, accept 2008 constitution and legally amend it as necessary, and [establish] one national armed force.While Thein Sein has managed to enter into ceasefire agreements with many ethnic minority groups, the issue is one of duration and scope, not of legality. Contractual obligations are likely only a tenuous papering over of brutal histories. Many of these soldiers have been fighting in a civil war for their entire lives. It is what they know.

As Tharckabaw said in 2010: “It’s very difficult to trust people that have been killing, displacing and abusing your people for over 60 years.” He said this year, “We felt that there are positive changes taking place that leave room for cautious optimism. Although it’s more caution than optimism.” The leader of the KIA on January 30, 2012, said that they want a formal “political dialogue” with Thein Sein’s government, not “ceasefire talks”.
Optimistic future?
The people of Myanmar and the international community want peace and prosperity for the country’s people. Nothing would be more desirable. Indeed, perhaps the most effective solution to the civil war issue is to ensure that legal and economic development improves the lives of ethnic minorities in the periphery, many of whom are devastated by poverty, just as such development improves the lives of those in the centre.
The burden falls on the government to continue to show its good faith and good works in improving and liberalising the country and the people. The international community, particularly the US and EU with their sanctions regimes, will have to continue to apply pressure on the government to continue its reforms.
A pivotal year will be 2015, when the all-important full elections take place. President Thein Sein, who has received the endorsement of Senator Mitch McConnell (a co-sponsor of the US sanctions on Myanmar) as a genuine reformer, will likely need to be re-elected, both in the national elections and by the parliament to his current presidential post. His likely successor at the moment, Thura Shwe Mann, recently delivered a reformist speech – welcome news, but there is greater uncertainty to the pace and nature of reforms with him at the helm instead of Thein Sein, not to speak of someone else entirely.
Locals have worried that Thein Sein’s removal from office could destroy the whole reform process, and they worry about reactionaries and conservatives in the government and military who might backlash against his moves in the near future.

Aung San Suu Kyi may need to step into her father’s shoes to promote peace. Acknowledging the secession issue, in 2010 she advocated for a Second Panglong agreement, which ethnic minority groups supported, an intriguing proposal. Deputy Chairman of the Shan Nationals Democratic Party, Sao Saung Cee, said then: “We support her idea to work on a second Panglong. We believe this is the only way a peaceful union in which all people come to respect and love each other can be built in Burma. Everyone in Burma will be happy if she can do it.”
Indeed, Suu Kyi’s role will likely be essential, and many in the country are worried about her well-being, one commenting that he is scared that she “will be killed like Benazir Bhutto” while campaigning, and hoping that her security detail is strong. 

Perhaps, the government is taking notice of the Second Panglong idea: Aung Thaung, leader of the government’s peacemaking group, has announced that a conference similar to the Panglong conference will be held in Naypyitaw and attended by all ethnic groups. This is a hopeful sign: a Second Panglong may eventually be needed in order for all sides to come together and cement the notion in all stakeholders that Myanmar intends to rise in unison to meet the rest of the world.

(Reuters) – Southeast Asian carriers are set to profit from the expected surge in the number of leisure and business travellers to Myanmar as it re-emerges from political isolation, but poor infrastructure is likely to slow development.
The former Burma, one of the most isolated countries in Asia, is being welcomed back into the international fold after two decades of sanctions, thanks to democratic reforms including the release of political prisoners by President Thein Sein.
Thai Airways International PCL THAI.BK, SilkAir, AirAsia Bhd (AIRA.KL), and JetStar, have flown to Myanmar’s capital Yangon for a number of years and are seen as the main beneficiaries from the political shift in the country.
“This is a huge country which will provide new growth for airlines, especially the low cost carriers,” Standard and Poor’s analyst Shukor Yusof said, adding that the yields that carriers are enjoying on Yangon routes have been good.
With its pristine beaches and unspoilt cultural sites, Myanmar is an attractive destination for travellers jaded by the rapid development seen elsewhere in Southeast Asia, and tourist numbers are already rising rapidly with potential for much more growth.
During the 2010-2011 (April-March) fiscal year, 424,000 people visited Myanmar, according to official data. That compares with 19 million tourists that its neighbouring Thailand attracts each year.
The Thai affiliate of Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia, Thai AirAsia, said it was looking to add new routes into the country’s inland cultural centres. AirAsia flies to Yangon from Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.
“We are considering opening more flights and destinations in Myanmar. We’re only operating to Yangon at the moment, but we’re currently looking at Mandalay and Bagan,” Thai AirAsia CEO Tassapon Bijleveld told Reuters.
Silk Air, the regional carrier of Singapore Airlines Ltd (SIAL.SI), and JetStar, a subsidiary of Qantas Airways Ltd (QAN.AX), said they have no current plans to add flights to Myanmar but will monitor any opportunities to expand.
John Rachmat, Singapore-based airline analyst at RBS, said the thawing diplomatic climate would not necessarily translate into new routes being opened in the short term, as airlines would want to make sure that there would be any reversal in the political stance of Myanmar.
“Opening of a new route is quite an investment for an airline and for them to do this they want to make sure that the risk are manageable,” Rachmat said.
INFRASTRUCTURE CONSTRAINT
Political risks aside, analysts said boosting the capacity to Myanmar would not be easy due to various infrastructure problems in the country.
Years of economic mismanagement by the military, coupled with U.S. and European sanctions imposed due to the regime’s human rights abuses, have left Myanmar in poverty. A third of its estimated 60 million people live on a dollar a day.
Currently there are only three airports that can accommodate single aisle commercial aircraft like Airbus (EAD.PA) A320 or Boeing (BA.N) 737, a popular choice of among airlines to start a new route, none near the country’s nascent beach centres such as Thandwe.
Standard & Poor’s Yusof said this could provide an opportunity for Changi Airport Group, the operator of Singapore’s Changi Airport, to engage in management contract to improve the airports in Myanmar.
Analysts said the benefit could also be extended to other supporting business such as aircraft maintenance and passenger support services.
Some major hotel operators, including Starwood Hotels & Resorts (HOT.N) — which runs chains such as Westin, Sheraton and Le Meridien — and Marriott International (MAR.N) had said they wanted to start running hotels in Myanmar.
(Additional reporting by Sinsiri Tiwutanond in Bangkok and Mark Tay in Singapore; Editing by Alex Richardson)

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has its own “marronnier” – visa issues. Every ASEAN Travel Forum (ATF) experiences ministries from each member country reaffirming his commitment to simplify visa issues and work on a single ASEAN visa.At almost every press conference, questions generally emerge on visa procedures to some member countries.
ATF’s last edition in Manado in mid-January was no exception. Visa again became the issue, with ministers reinstating to work on creating a single visa. But more countries are now raising their voice in favor of a rapid single visa implementation.During ATF, various ministerial meetings – Cambodia, Indonesia, or the Philippines – voiced their strong support to the single visa as they see it as a means to rapidly boost the appeal of the region for travelers.

Indonesia’s Minister for Tourism and Creative Economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, formally introduced ASEAN as the single tourist destination during the tourism forum in Manado. However, she admitted that the campaign would only gain in importance once “problems involving common visas to non-ASEAN residents are settled.
”For now, non-ASEAN travelers have to play with different rules for almost each country. It goes from relatively liberal policies in Malaysia, the Philippines, or Thailand, to simple visa-on-arrivals rules for Cambodia, Laos, or Indonesia.

The toughest visa conditions are to be expected in Myanmar and Vietnam, but there are also some changes in the air. Myanmar just announced at the end of last month to implement e-visa facilities and relax entry into the country.In an interview conducted by the Myanmar Times newspaper, Union Minister U Tint San declared on February 1 that the government will try to introduce an e-visa system from March that would allow international visitors to apply from anywhere via the Internet before visiting Myanmar.
In parallel, the e-visa would allow travelers to enter or exit from any border crossing point. The web address for the proposed e-visa site is www.myanmarevisa.gov.mm . At ATF, Phyoe Wai Yarzar, Secretary of the newly-formed Myanmar Tourist Board, explained that e-visa facilities would, in fact, be the most efficient way for the government to balance the absence of diplomatic representations.They are also rumors that Vietnam would work on a e-visa solution.

There is already the possibility of getting a pre- E-visa clearance in certain cases. But the procedure remains expensive and on a case-by-case basis. Officials from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism admitted during the ATF that lengthy visa formalities are certainly a major handicap to the development of tourism. Nothing official has been announced so far, but it seems that the government seems to realize that it has to change the way visa is provided if Vietnam does not want to lose out tourists to other destinations.

Last but not least, the long-expected common visa between Cambodia and Thailand – announced many times and delayed many times as well, due to political tensions between both countries – became available since February 1. The single visa gives access to both countries and should be soon extended to Laos MANADO, Indonesia (eTN) – There is a funny expression in French media. They regularly mention “marronnier” (chestnut tree), as soon as a topic comes into the media on a regular basis. For example: “Winter Sales” or “Crowded highways for holidays.”

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has its own “marronnier” – visa issues. Every ASEAN Travel Forum (ATF) experiences ministries from each member country reaffirming his commitment to simplify visa issues and work on a single ASEAN visa.

At almost every press conference, questions generally emerge on visa procedures to some member countries. ATF’s last edition in Manado in mid-January was no exception. Visa again became the issue, with ministers reinstating to work on creating a single visa. But more countries are now raising their voice in favor of a rapid single visa implementation.

During ATF, various ministerial meetings – Cambodia, Indonesia, or the Philippines – voiced their strong support to the single visa as they see it as a means to rapidly boost the appeal of the region for travelers. Indonesia’s Minister for Tourism and Creative Economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, formally introduced ASEAN as the single tourist destination during the tourism forum in Manado. However, she admitted that the campaign would only gain in importance once “problems involving common visas to non-ASEAN residents are settled.”
For now, non-ASEAN travelers have to play with different rules for almost each country. It goes from relatively liberal policies in Malaysia, the Philippines, or Thailand, to simple visa-on-arrivals rules for Cambodia, Laos, or Indonesia. The toughest visa conditions are to be expected in Myanmar and Vietnam, but there are also some changes in the air. Myanmar just announced at the end of last month to implement e-visa facilities and relax entry into the country.

In an interview conducted by the Myanmar Times newspaper, Union Minister U Tint San declared on February 1 that the government will try to introduce an e-visa system from March that would allow international visitors to apply from anywhere via the Internet before visiting Myanmar. In parallel, the e-visa would allow travelers to enter or exit from any border crossing point. The web address for the proposed e-visa site is www.myanmarevisa.gov.mm . At ATF, Phyoe Wai Yarzar, Secretary of the newly-formed Myanmar Tourist Board, explained that e-visa facilities would, in fact, be the most efficient way for the government to balance the absence of diplomatic representations.

They are also rumors that Vietnam would work on a e-visa solution. There is already the possibility of getting a pre- E-visa clearance in certain cases. But the procedure remains expensive and on a case-by-case basis. Officials from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism admitted during the ATF that lengthy visa formalities are certainly a major handicap to the development of tourism. Nothing official has been announced so far, but it seems that the government seems to realize that it has to change the way visa is provided if Vietnam does not want to lose out tourists to other destinations.

Last but not least, the long-expected common visa between Cambodia and Thailand – announced many times and delayed many times as well, due to political tensions between both countries – became available since February 1. The single visa gives access to both countries and should be soon extended to LaosE-visas arrive to Myanmar and probably to VietnamMANADO, Indonesia (eTN) – There is a funny expression in French media. They regularly mention “marronnier” (chestnut tree), as soon as a topic comes into the media on a regular basis. For example: “Winter Sales” or “Crowded highways for holidays.”The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has its own “marronnier” – visa issues.
Every ASEAN Travel Forum (ATF) experiences ministries from each member country reaffirming his commitment to simplify visa issues and work on a single ASEAN visa.At almost every press conference, questions generally emerge on visa procedures to some member countries. ATF’s last edition in Manado in mid-January was no exception. Visa again became the issue, with ministers reinstating to work on creating a single visa. But more countries are now raising their voice in favor of a rapid single visa implementation.

During ATF, various ministerial meetings – Cambodia, Indonesia, or the Philippines – voiced their strong support to the single visa as they see it as a means to rapidly boost the appeal of the region for travelers. Indonesia’s Minister for Tourism and Creative Economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, formally introduced ASEAN as the single tourist destination during the tourism forum in Manado. However, she admitted that the campaign would only gain in importance once “problems involving common visas to non-ASEAN residents are settled.”For now, non-ASEAN travelers have to play with different rules for almost each country. It goes from relatively liberal policies in Malaysia, the Philippines, or Thailand, to simple visa-on-arrivals rules for Cambodia, Laos, or Indonesia. The toughest visa conditions are to be expected in Myanmar and Vietnam, but there are also some changes in the air. Myanmar just announced at the end of last month to implement e-visa facilities and relax entry into the country.In an interview conducted by the Myanmar Times newspaper, Union Minister U Tint San declared on February 1 that the government will try to introduce an e-visa system from March that would allow international visitors to apply from anywhere via the Internet before visiting Myanmar. In parallel, the e-visa would allow travelers to enter or exit from any border crossing point. The web address for the proposed e-visa site is www.myanmarevisa.gov.mm . At ATF, Phyoe Wai Yarzar, Secretary of the newly-formed Myanmar Tourist Board, explained that e-visa facilities would, in fact, be the most efficient way for the government to balance the absence of diplomatic representations.They are also rumors that Vietnam would work on a e-visa solution.

There is already the possibility of getting a pre- E-visa clearance in certain cases. But the procedure remains expensive and on a case-by-case basis. Officials from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism admitted during the ATF that lengthy visa formalities are certainly a major handicap to the development of tourism. Nothing official has been announced so far, but it seems that the government seems to realize that it has to change the way visa is provided if Vietnam does not want to lose out tourists to other destinations.

(Reuters) – Travellers hoping to catch a glimpse of the glittering Shwedagon Pagoda or hear the “tinkly temple-bells” of Kipling’s Road to Mandalay might one day be able to book into a Westin or a Marriott, thanks to Myanmar’s emergence from political isolation.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts (HOT.N) — which runs chains such as Westin, Sheraton and Le Meridien — and Marriott International (MAR.N) both said during the World Economic Forum in Davos they wanted to start running hotels in Myanmar, a country tightly controlled by the military for five decades until last year.
The former Burma, one of the most isolated countries in Asia, is being welcomed back into the international fold after two decades of sanctions, thanks to democratic reforms including the release of political prisoners by President Thein Sein.
“Marriott would love to be there if conditions are right,” said Arne Sorenson, president and CEO-elect of Marriott International. “Burma has captured people’s imagination for decades.”
Myanmar has a huge amount to offer travellers seeking an exotic destination, with deserted islands, golden temples and cultural sites unblemished by the rapid development seen elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
English-speaking schoolchildren grew up with Rudyard Kipling’s wistful poem of “mist on the rice-fields”, “the old pagoda looking lazy at the sea”, and “a neater, sweeter maiden in a cleaner, greener land”.
The hotel chains in Myanmar now are Asian-based companies such as Shangri-la Hotels & Resorts, which runs Traders Hotel, Singapore’s Sedona Hotels International, and GHM Luxury Hotels, a Burmese company that owns the Strand in the commercial capital, Yangon, formerly Rangoon.
The few five-star hotels outside of Yangon are mostly in beach resorts or tourist centres such as Mandalay and Bagan.
Myanmar is hugely underdeveloped, with an economy in tatters and infrastructure that is rudimentary at best.
Years of economic mismanagement by the military, coupled with U.S. and European sanctions imposed due to the regime’s human rights abuses, have left Myanmar in poverty. A third of its estimated 60 million people live on a dollar a day.
But despite the sanctions, most of which remain in place for now, the number of tourists visiting Myanmar is surging. The government expects the trend to continue but admits it has a dire shortage of accommodation.
During the fiscal 2010-2011 (April-March), 424,000 people visited Myanmar, according to official data, and its 570 hotels and 160 guesthouses are stretched to the limit, with a total capacity of just 24,692 rooms.
Compare neighbouring Thailand, which has a similar climate and landscape to Myanmar but more than 4,000 hotels and resorts. It attracted 19 million visitors last year.
CAPACITY CHALLENGES
Western chains sense an opportunity.
“I think it’s time for people like us to look at Burma,” said Vasant Prabhu, vice chairman and chief financial officer of Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
“I think Burma is the interesting new opportunity — a little bit like Vietnam might have been 20 years ago. We have a decent presence in Vietnam right now.”
Jalil Mekouar, managing director for the Middle East and Africa for Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, a hotel investment services firm, said Myanmar’s potential for tourism and hotels was “gigantic” given its landscape, islands and rich history.
“As they open I see a huge potential not only in the tourism and hotel sphere, but also industrial,” Mekouar said at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles.
Nancy Johnson, executive vice president of development for Carlson Hotels in the Americas, suggested her company, whose brands include Radisson and Country Inns & Suites, would also be interested in going into Myanmar.
“It’s a beautiful country,” Johnson said. “If there’s an opportunity to go there, we will be there.”
But it is too early to talk of a flood of foreign business. Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered (STAN.L), which operates in every Asian country apart from North Korea and Myanmar, said it would consider opening in Myanmar if sanctions were lifted but it was premature to make concrete moves.
“We’re looking at the changes very closely, but it isn’t clear yet,” said StanChart Chief Executive Peter Sands.
Hotel chains operating in Thailand see big potential in Myanmar, but are not in any rush to set up there, aware of the risks attached to investing in a country with a long history of corruption and unclear legislation.
“We are looking for ways to expand in Myanmar. What we want to do is get in there by managing local hotels,” said Ronnachit Mahattanapreut, a senior vice-president at Central Plaza Hotel CENT.BK, Thailand’s fourth-largest listed hotel firm.
“I don’t think we need to hurry because rules and restrictions are not really settled.”
Prakit Chinamourphong, head of the Thai Hotels Association, which represents about 800 hotels, including the Mandarin Oriental OHTL.BK, the Four Seasons, owned by Minor International Pcl MINT.BK and Dusit Thani DTC.BK, said it would be at least two years before Thai chains made a move.
“No one has really talked about going there yet. Yes, Myanmar is opening up but it’s a bit too early for us to get in now,” he told Reuters.
“There are still high risks to make a move there. Politics, for one thing, is very uncertain. Having said that, we see a very good opportunity.”
(Additional reporting by Kelvin Soh in Davos and Karen Jacobs in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Graff, Martin Petty and Alex Richardson; For full Reuters coverage from Davos, go to www.reuters.com/davos)