Visa-on-arrival granted to citizens of six countries

Visa-on-arrival granted to citizens of six countries
Published 2 June 2019

Ministry of Hotels and Tourism has released a statement that it will issue the visa-on-arrival to the ordinary passport holders from Italy, Spain, Australia, Switzerland, Germany and Russia for the one-year probationary period, in a bid to encourage the inflow of tourists to Myanmar.

Under the visa-on-arrival system, tourists from these countries can enter Myanmar via Yangon International Airport, Mandalay International Airport and Nay Pyi Taw International Airport. The visa-on-arrival fee is 50 US dollars and the term of the visa-on-arrival is 30 days. They will be allowed to enter the country only with tourist visa alone. The ministry will not allow the extension of the visa-on-arrival. They will have to respect Myanmar’s existing laws and procedures. They will be allowed to freely visit the tourist sites apart from the restricted places.

On October 1, 2018, Myanmar allowed visa exemption for those who hold ordinary passports, from Japan, South Korea and China’s autonomous regions—Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese citizens who hold the ordinary passport are allowed to enter the country with visa-on-arrival.

Till April, 2019, the number of tourist arrivals hit over 1.5 million, a 23-per-cent increase compared with the same period last year. In addition, the number of Chinese tourist arrivals increased to 135 per cent, Korean tourist arrivals, 89 per cent and Japanese tourist arrivals, 24 per cent, according to the figures from the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population.

China topped the list of tourist arrivals with 212,419, followed by Thailand with 97,116, South Korea with 45,244, Japan with 43,708, U.S with 26,595, France with 20,045, Singapore with 18,152, Vietnam, 17,980, India with 16,020 and Malaysia with 14,637,

Yangon, Mandalay and Shan see the highest inflow of tourists. The number of tourist arrivals hit 4.6 million in 2015, 2.91 million in 2016, 3.44 million in 2017 and 3.55 million in 2018.