Thailand, China lead Yangon's tourism market
Thailand and China are the main source of Yangon’s tourism market, according to a recently released report from the Jones Lang LaSalle’s Hotels & Hospitality Group.
“Yangon’s two largest and mature source markets for the past few years have been neighbouring Thailand and China given their close proximity and long-standing economic co-operation. In 2012, visitors from Thailand and China comprised of 15.9% and 11.9% of total visitor arrivals, respectively. Growth from these markets, particularly from China has been lower in 2012 as they are staring out from much larger bases and some other source markets have grown more strongly,” said Jones Lang LaSalle’s Hotels & Hospitality Group in its Myanmar Hotel and Tourism Report: Spotlight on Yangon publication.
“China has long established economic links with Myanmar along its border with road infrastructure connecting to mineral deposits and other natural resources. Due to their existing foothold in Myanmar, it is arguable corporations from China have less need to visit Yangon frequently to form business relations or to research the market relative to other, newer entrant countries,” noted the report.
Yangon International Airport has received over 235,000 Asian visitors from January to July this year, compared to only 165,000 visitors around the same time last year.