ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By THE IRRAWADDY | A government plan to cash in on tourist trips to the cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta region has run into problems because of restrictions placed on travelers there.

Visitors to Burma signing up for tours to the delta have to state the purpose of their travel and are told any donations or material aid they intend giving to cyclone victims must be handed to the authorities.

A guide working for a Rangoon tour company told The Irrawaddy that many tourists refused to agree to the conditions and cancelled their travel plans.

Burma’s Ministry of Hotels and Tourism had organized a day trip to the delta costing
US $20, but a number of operators—notably the Exotissimo Travel Co—had struck the tour from their programs.

“Tourists were hesitating to take the Nargis tour because of the conditions attached,” said a Rangoon-based tourist guide. Members of one French tour group had handed to the tour company the aid they had intended to take to the delta rather than giving it to the authorities.

A Ministry of Hotels and Tourism official, contacted on Friday by The Irrawaddy, denied the tours were experiencing problems.

A Rangoon tour company operator said the number of tourists visiting Burma had dropped by up to 80 percent as a result of the global economic crisis and the recent shut-down at Bangkok’s two international airports.

Burma has more than 600 hotels and 700 tour companies, according to a recent statement by Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein.