THE supply of hotel rooms in Yangon will nearly double in the coming year in an effort to ease the city’s shortage, according to Myanmar’s Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.
Minister of Hotels and Tourism, Htay Aung, said: “More hotels will be granted (licences) to develop to meet increasing demand, especially in Yangon. Numerous hotels are already in construction around the city and a few more are slated to open in 2016 and later.”
The ministry has also issued 166 hotel licences in the past year – on average three new hotel licences per week (TTG Asia e-Daily March 11, 2014).
Figures from the ministry as of December 2013 showed that Myanmar had 923 licensed hotels and approximately 34,834 rooms throughout the country.
Yangon had 232 hotels with 10,175 rooms, followed by Mandalay with 104 hotels (4,439 rooms), Bagan-Nyaung U with 77 hotels (2,386 rooms), Taunggyi-Inle with 70 hotels (1,939 rooms) and Naypyidaw with 50 hotels (4,030 rooms).
Among the 923 licensed hotels, only six were rated as five-star, 17 as four-star, 83 as three-star, 116 as two-star and the rest as one-star/certified.
Htay Aung said the ministry would like to encourage both local and foreign investors to invest in hotel and other tourism-related business which are “very promising” for the investor.
The Myanmar Investment Commission has so far granted permission worth up to US$2 billion of investment into 39 hotels and tourism-related projects.
“We look at the foreign investment hotels and commercial complexes; there are 39 projects with the availability of 8,029 rooms. Only 30 projects with 5,207 rooms have been completed and the other six projects are under constructions,” said Htay Aung.
In 2013, the number of tourists visiting Myanmar surged to over two million compared to one million in 2012, indicating a significant two-fold increase from last year.
The ministry forecasts that in 2014 the number of international tourists will increase to three million.
