Myanmar wants to reawaken sleepy capital as tourism drawcard

NAY PYI TAW — Myanmar is making a fresh push to draw visitors to its capital of Nay Pyi Taw, amid an abundance of underutilised facilities and falling hotel room prices.

Speaking at a recent press conference in the capital, Mr Tint Thwin, director-general at the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, said Nay Pyi Taw has a lot to offer both foreign and local tourists, including event and conference-goers. The government will set up a marketing team to boost efforts to promote the capital as a location for MICE — meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, he said.

“International tourists can come to attend a meeting and then they can visit the rest of Myanmar,” said Mr Tint Thwin.

The government was also running tours of Parliament — known as the Hluttaw — for local youth groups, he said, adding that the capital has historical significance that it should leverage to draw locals.

“Our ancient kings also regarded this place as a place of nobility so local travellers also can come to Nay Pyi Taw to learn all about this,” he said.

Nay Pyi Taw became Myanmar’s capital in 2006, taking over from Yangon. It was built on a greenfield site some 320km north of Yangon.

While many hotels were built in the lead-up to the 2014 Association of South-east Asian Nations Summit, the facilities have been underutilised since, and tour operators said the area lacks shops, restaurants and other attractions.

The government last year began pushing Nay Pyi Taw as a potential destination for conferences and events. But Yangon is still the overwhelming preference as an entry point for tourist arrivals. In 2015, 1.2 million travellers arrived via Yangon, compared to just 13,800 in the capital, according to figures from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.

Ms Khin San Win, deputy director-general from the directorate of Hotels and Tourism, said that with increased competition, hotels in the capital have had to lower their rates.

“Now hotels are reducing their room prices competitively, without needing to be urged by us,” she said, adding that there are more than 50 hotels with over 5,000 rooms. “We have done a lot of marketing over the past three years, aiming to get people to hold meetings and exhibitions in Nay Pyi Taw. We will continue with this strategy.”

Not everyone agrees that the capital has what it takes to lure tourists. “Nay Pyi Taw is like a dead city,” said Mr Aye Kyaw, managing director of Ruby Land Tourism Services.

“There needs to be facilities with shopping spots and restaurants,” he said. “And we can’t compete with Thailand and Vietnam on hotel room prices, even though we said we have lowered prices.”

Ms Zar Chi Thet, operations manager at Ayarwaddy Legend Travels and Tours, welcomed the government’s initiatives, but said there was still much to do in the capital before foreign visitors saw it as an international conference destination.

“Lower room prices are just one of the many factors needed to help promote a MICE industry,” she said. “There should be more cheap direct flights to Nay Pyi Taw, for example.”

Additional entertainment facilities are also important to the industry, she added.

“Tourists have told us that there is no place to go when the events are finished,” she said. “We need better transportation and other facilities to promote a tourism industry in Nay Pyi Taw.”