The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism (MHT) will extend visa preferences for people from Japan, South Korea, China and India. The initiative is aimed to boost Myanmar’s tourism numbers. Since late 2018, visitors from Japan and South Korea have enjoyed visa exemption when entering Myanmar. People from China and India were eligible for visas on arrival. The new policy will extend those preferences, until September and November, 2020, respectively.

Relaxing visa requirements for those countries has greatly increased the tourist numbers, the MHT claimed. It said 2.14 million foreign visitors entered the country in the first half of 2019. It is contrasted with 1.72 million during the same period in 2018.

The MHT has also said it would extend similar preferences to people from six additional countries in October. Formerly, Myanmar offered no visas on arrival for tourists. The prospective visitors had to endure a lengthy and expensive application process at a foreign consulate. However in recent years, the government has instituted e-visas, visas on arrival and paperless immigration in an attempt to boost the tourism sector. It has shown disappointing growth in Myanmar’s new democratic era. MHT data shows that these measures have had a positive impact. However, the ministry has been suspected of inflating the numbers by counting routine border crossings on the Thai and Chinese borders as tourism.

Nevertheless, optimism from both the public and private sectors seems to be high. The Yangon Region Tourism Working Committee granted permits for 21 new hotels between May and August, reported the Daily Eleven.The total investment for those new hotels will be almost USD 240 million.