Tourists from China, South Korea and Japan will be granted visa free travel to Myanmar starting August 1, according to a local report. The report said that the new measure has been introduced to coincide with the introduction of a new Companies Law that aims to increase foreign direct investment, and comes as Myanmar seeks to improve its international image amid criticism of its handling of the crisis in Rakhine State. “In the tourism industry in Myanmar, free visas provide the best environment for new investments because the new law has given opportunities to foreign investors,” U Ohn Maung, Minister of Hotels and Tourism, was quoted as saying at a business seminar in Yangon. Quoting stakeholders in the tourism industry, the article said that interest from western tourists had fallen significantly in the past year, and that some tour operators and hotels were considering cost-cutting measures in order to deal with the declining income.