MYANMAR’s iconic Shwedagon Pagoda is on track to welcome a record number of foreign visitors this year, bypassing the all-time high set just last year.
According to the pagoda’s board of trustees, 136,579 overseas visitors visited the historic site in Yangon between January and August 2011, a 40 per cent year-on-year increase.
The figure is generally considered an indicator of the health of Myanmar tourism, as the majority of foreign tourists visit the pagoda at least once during their stay.
Last year, there were 175,054 foreign visitors to the attraction, a 54.2 per cent year-on-year increase, beating the previous high of 151,262 in 2006 (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 14, 2010).
According to a pagoda spokesperson, the majority of overseas visitors this year were from Thailand, China, Malaysia, South Korea and Spain.
