Myanmar unrest has little effect on tour agency businesses

SINGAPORE: Tour agencies in Singapore say the unrest in Myanmar has not affected their businesses much.

But a few, like Asia-Euro Holidays, say there have been some cancellations.

"Recently, we actually have a group of volunteers - 27 of them - intending to go to Myanmar for some community services. Apparently, they have decided to cancel the trip. Instead, they are planning for Cambodia and it's some time in December," said Sam How, a general manager at Asia-Euro Holidays.

However, most agencies tell Channel NewsAsia that Myanmar is not a sought-after tourist destination, to begin with.

Lee Cheun Kiat, manager for marketing and PR at Commonwealth Travel Service Corporation, said: "The recent situation has not affected business as a whole.....(due to) the fact that Myanmar has had a long-standing issue of political unrest and the fact that Myanmar is not a popular destination...We offered tour packages to Myanmar recently and the take-up rate was about 10-20 passengers per month.....We actually encounter more business travellers than leisure travellers to Myanmar."

The tour packages to Myanmar offered by Commonwealth Travel from May to September this year attracted only about 100 people. But over the same five-month period, other destinations like Thailand and Cambodia attracted some 1,000 people.

Besides the current violence, the poor response to Myanmar is also due to other factors.

Asia-Euro Holidays' Sam How said: "First thing, of course, is its political situation and currently it's still military-controlled. On the other hand, there are a lot of restrictions....you can't use mobile phones there, credit cards are not recognised due to the international sanctions. All these are creating a lot of inconvenience for the tourists going there."

But many travel agencies are confident that Myanmar has the potential to become a popular tourist destination in the future, so long as political stability prevails. - CNA/ir