THE Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is eyeing Myanmar as an emerging source market and has announced plans to lure more arrivals.
Sherleen Seah, area director for Thailand and Myanmar, STB, shared during a media engagement event in Yangon last week, that Singapore currently receives over 112,000 visitors from the South-east Asian nation, an increase of 13.5 per cent in 2014 compared to the year before.
“Leisure visitors had increased more than 50 per cent over the last five years. The average length of stay in Singapore among Myanmar leisure visitors was also much longer than the global average, standing at about eight to nine days,” she said.
STB will be rolling out more content online to engage with Myanmar travellers, including a dedicated Your Singapore Myanmar portal and Facebook page. They will also be partnering with local opinion leaders to share their Singapore experiences to Myanmar audiences. Additionally, a contest, festival and several special travel promotions are being planned.
However, among ASEAN member countries, Myanmar visitors are still required to obtain visas in order to travel to Singapore.
“While easing visa requirements certainly remove barriers to travel, we also learnt that Myanmar travellers are generally not concerned with visa requirements,” said Seah, adding that visa regulations are beyond the NTO’s area of control.
