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Shortly after his successfulreelection, President Obamamade a historic trip toMyanmar (still officiallyreferred to as Burma by theAmerican government).On 19 November 2012, hebecame the first sitting US

president to visit the country.

During his visit, President Obama met separatelywith President U Thein Sein and Nobel PeacePrize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi at the lakesidevilla where the pro-democracy icon spent yearsunder house arrest. During his short visit, Obamaalso fit in a speech at the University of Yangon.

Met by throngs of Burmese looking to greet himas he passed in the streets of Yangon, BarackObama used the stop to encourage the oncerepressive regime to remain on its positive direc-tion toward political and economic reforms start-ing in 2011. The hospitality industry inMyanmar is one of the industries benefiting from“flickers of progress that we have seen.”

I have had the pleasure to discuss the state of thehospitality industry with May Myat Mon Win,Assistant General Manager (Marketing &Operations) at the Chatrium Hotel Royal LakeYangon. She is a very experienced hospitalityexecutive within the Myanmar hotelier industry.

G&L: You have quite a solid background insales and marketing at 5-star hotels in Myanmar.

Could you give us a brief summary of your hote-lier background?

MMMW: I started my hotelier career atSummit Parkview Hotel as ConfidentialSecretary at the end of 1994. Then I changedmy career to sales and marketing in the middleof 1995 as Sales Manager handling all of salesand marketing functions for the SummitParkview. Myanmar had received rapid increasein demand during the years of 1995 to 1997

due to visits in Myanmar year 1996. I joinedHotel Nikko Royal Lake Yangon at the end of1998 as Senior Sales Manager, as Director of Salesin the year 2000, director of sales and marketingin year 2004 until the end of 2010. Nikko wasrebranded as Chatrium Hotel Royal Lake Yangonin 2008. I am currently performing duties atChatrium Hotel Royal Lake Yangon as AssistantGeneral Manager taking responsibilities for mar-keting and operation functions of the property. Ihave an executive MBA degree at YangonUniversity, Hospitality Marketing Course byEducation Institute of American Hotels andLodging Association, Sales and MarketingManagement course by Singapore Productivityand Standard Board during my career.

G&L: Democratic and economic reformsrecently made by President Thein Sein, havebeen seen as providing significant opportuni-ties for growth. Have you seen, or do youexpect to see these reforms impacting theMyanmar hotel sector?

MMMW: Yes. Undoubtedly, Myanmar has beengoing through a remarkable journey of changeand reforms with the leadership of President UThein Sein. 2012 has been such a remarkableyear for Myanmar’s history. 12 months ago itwould be hard to even dream of what’s happen-ing now. The reform process has opened signifi-cant opportunities for business, investment, andhuman capital in the country. One of the firstindustries benefiting from the growth is thehotel and tourism sector.

HOSPITALITY

REMARKABLE JOURNEY: THE OPENING OF THE TOURISM &

HOSPITALITY MARKET IN MYANMARA DISCUSSION WITH MAY MYAT

MON WIN IN YANGON

Bill Healey

May Myat Mon Win l Assistant GeneralManager of Chatrium Hotel Royal Lake Yangon

Undoubtedly, Myanmar has been going through a remarkable journey of changeand reforms with the leadership of President U Thein Sein.

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G&L: Myanmar will host the World EconomicForum and the SEA Games in 2013 and theASEAN Summit in 2014. There appears to besignificant international interest in Myanmar as aconference and leisure destination. Is Myanmar’shotel sector able to adequately meet the short-term growth demands with rooms that are con-sidered “suitable for tourists?”

MMMW: There are various significant bigevents lining up for 2013 and 2014 includingthe World Economic Forum Asia PacificAnnual Meeting in June 2013, South East AsiaGames in December 2013 and several ASEANmeetings including the ASEAN summit. Inaddition, we expect many international confer-ences will be hosted in Myanmar. As of leisure,we expect to see significant increase from newmarkets such as America, Canada, Australiaand Scandinavia in 2013 and 2014. In the shortterm, say for a 1- 2 year period, the hotel sec-tor, especially in Yangon and Mandalay, willmost likely face challenges to accommodate theincreasing demand if some of the local hotelscannot supply upgraded quality. On the otherhand, new hotel projects have been approvedand development is underway.

G&L: Aside from improving social and eco-nomic conditions, how can the governmentease restrictions to improve conditions forinternational hotel investment?

MMMW: The major challenge for foreignhotel investment is the availability of landand property prices. Recently, the govern-ment has approved new FDI law.

G&L: You are also an executive committee memberof the Myanmar Marketing Committee. This is themarketing arm of the Myanmar Tourism Federation.How does MMC assist the hotel sector?

MMMW: Myanmar Marketing Committee(MMC), the marketing arm of Myanmar TourismFederation (MTF) supports the destination mar-keting activities abroad. MMC selects target mar-kets and promotes the destination by participat-ing with travel shows, organizing road shows,organizing familiarization trips and media trips.

G&L: Addressing the city of Yangon specifically,where are most of the inbound tourists comingfrom? Do you expect a higher percentage comingfrom Europe and the Americas in the coming years?

MMMW: In the past few years, travel to Myanmarhas always been a contradicting issue by someinbound markets. But the perception has been total-ly changed along with the reform process and posi-tive changes happening in the country.

For 2012 until November, most inbound travelersare coming from Asia (66% of total) – Thais 29%,Japanese 15% and Chinese 12%, followed byEuropeans (22% of total) - French 28%, British21% and Germans 20%, and American (10% oftotal). According to the market trends, we expectthat there will be significant increases of inboundtravelers from the Americas and Europe (especiallyNorthern Europe) for 2013 and 2014. Myanmar issuch a great destination with a vast diversity of

nature, culture, heritage, and very hospitable andfriendly people. This is the perfect time to visit thecountry whether it is for business or pleasure.

I’d like to thank May Myat Mon Win for hercontribution to this article. As the Asian hospi-tality and tourism market is expecting to contin-ue leading the global market in tourism andhotel expansion, it is my hope that the market inMyanmar can share in that growth.

Based in Bali, Bill has been consulting, installing andsupporting solutions in the global golf and leisureindustry since 1982. He has been involved with over1000 systems installations in 40+ countries fromNorth America to Africa to Asia and Australia.

HOSPITALITY

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