Tourism report paints rosy picture for Myanmar
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The latest tourism forecast published by the London-based World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has made optimistic predictions for Myanmar’s tourism industry. The Irrawaddy newspaper has reported that the WTTC forecasts a 4.1% rise in tourism to the cyclone-devastated country this year, with the industry providing jobs for 1,297,000 people, or 5.8% of national employment.
The rose-tinted view comes in spite of political demonstrations and the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis in May this year, killing an estimated 145,000 people. In fact the report makes no reference to Nargis or last September’s mass street protests and the subsequent military crackdown.
The WTTC’s view, which continues to suggest that by 2018 tourism will be contributing US$1.61 billion to Myanmar’s GDP, is not shared by many. The country’s Tourism Entrepreneurs Association believes that tourist arrivals this year have slumped 90%. Meanwhile Burma Economics Watch compiler Sean Turnell has questioned the WTTC figures, especially the conversion rate between local currency and the US dollar.
“The exchange rates used are all over the place,” Turnell, Professor of Economics and Burma specialist at Sydney’s Macquarie University in Sydney, told The Irrawaddy. “Overall, I’d have to say the report is pretty worthless,” he concluded.
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