Tourist arrivals in Myanmar drop in 2008-09

• Source: Xinhua
• [12:44 July 27 2009]
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Tourist arrivals in Myanmar dropped by 33,500 or 11.6 percent in the fiscal year of 2008-09 which ended in March, registering 255,000 as compared with 2007-08's 288, 500, according to the latest figures of the Central Statistical Organization.

Of the tourists who visited the country, 60 percent arrived by land across border, registering 153,000, while those coming by air 100,439, declining from 131,784, the statistics indicated.

Travelers mostly came from Thailand, China, South Korea, Japan, Germany and France.

The tourist arrivals apparently fell during the first seven months of 2008-09 for the country was severely hit by cyclone Nargis in early May and Myanmar was busy with its relief and rehabilitation works and reconstruction of tourism infrastructure for nearly half a year's period in the post-Nargis period.

According to the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, of a total of 652 hotels in the country, 35 are being operated under foreign investment, mostly form Singapore, Thailand, Japan and China's Hong Kong.

Myanmar's tourism season, which is the open season, runs from October to April. The month of April is traditionally highlighted by its water festival which marks Myanmar new year.