In 2018-2019 fiscal year, the number of tourist arrivals and foreigners who entered the country for business purposes, reached 1,218,891, up 442,843 compared with the same period last year, according to the State-owned newspapers.
In 2019, the number of tourists reached 954,929 and 263,962 foreigners entered the country for business purposes. During the same period last year, the number of tourists was 526,248 and the foreigners who entered the country for business purposes reached 263,962.
From January to August this year, Chinese tourists topped the list of tourist arrivals, followed by Korean tourists, according to the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.
Chinese tourist arrival increased 161 per cent and the Korean tourist arrival, by 77 per cent.
Due to the Rakhine issue in 2017, the number of tourists from the western countries dropped to 40 per cent in 2018.
In 2018-19 FY, as Look East Policy to attract tourists, Myanmar allowed visa exemption for tourists from Japan, South Korea and China’s special administrative regions—Hong Kong and Macau and visa on arrival for Chinese citizens who entered the country by air, for a one-year probationary period. After that, the number of tourist arrivals has increased.
The number of tourist arrivals increased from 3,443,133 in 2017 to 3,551,428 in 2018. The number of tourists arrivals via border entries stood first and the tourists who entered the country with visa border entries, second.
