Burmese Language
Burma introduces visa on arrival
The Burmese government has begun issuing visas on arrival for all nationalities at Rangoon and Mandalay international airports, immigration officials say.
The initiative began on 1 May, according to an official in Rangoon. Staff at the Myanmar Hotel and Tourism Enterprise’s information desk at Rangoon’s international airport said however that those who are blacklisted by the Burmese government will still be denied the visa.
“There is a restriction,” he said. “[Visa applicants] should not be on the blacklist; this will be check upon arrival at the airports. There will also be some questioning. A return ticket, sufficient amount of money and an address of the place staying also need to be declared. These are the basic requirements,” said the official.
There are different types of visas on arrival: the tourist visa for $US30 which grants 28 days to stay and cannot be extended; the business visa for $US40 for 70 days stay in the country, which can be extended; the visa for “social reasons” at $US40 for 28 days which allows extension, and the transit visa on arrival, which costs $US18 for 24 hours stay.
The Myanmar Tourism Entrepreneurs Association, which first called for use of the visa-on-arrival in 2008, has speculated there will be more tourists in Burma with the new system, which mimics that of other countries.
Burma’s tourism industry has seen a decline since the September 2007 monk-led uprising, as well as cyclone Nargis in 2008 May. The industry was also hit by the blockade of Bangkok airport in December 2008 and the global economic recession.
The Burmese government has in the past issued visas on arrival but this is the first time that it is open to all nationalities. Previously it had been available only to countries where there was no Burmese embassy so was only attainable via a proxy company.
The widely publicised boycott of tourism in Burma has impacted on the amount of foreigners who visit the country, which ranks lower than the majority of other Southeast Asian countries. Some 250,000 tourists visit Burma annually, compared to around 14 million in Thailand.
According to Tourism Concern, Burma earns around $US100 million annually from tourism; critics argue that the vast majority of the money goes to the ruling junta, which is known to use forced labour in the construction of hotels and resorts.
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So, what is new? Visa on arrival has been in use and working well for years.
According to official data, there were 227,400 international visitors to Burma in 2009 arriving through Rangoon, Mandalay, Bagan and Muse/Ruili. About 70% of these were tourists, or approximately 160,000. As a rule of thumb, each tourist normally contributes about US$1,000 on an average visit to any South East Asian country, which would mean a gross income in the region of US$ 160 million in the case of Burma. But tourism as an industry in Burma is in considerable difficulties because of low occupancy rates. As the former Director of an investment company 1994-2000 which had stakes in six international class hotels in Burma, I can confirm that not one of them made an operating profit and that after payment of taxes, interest on capital loaned and accounting for depreciation, our six hotels all made a substantial net loss. We had to defer interest payments, reschedule debt and delay land rentals.
Indeed, it is doubtful that the earnings to the State in 2009 from tourism would have reached US$ 20 million net. Compare this with the US$ 2.3 billion net earned from sales of natural gas to Thailand, over 100 times as much. Indeed, taking all their expenses into account, it is no exaggeration to say that the Burmese Government arguably subsidizes tourism at its present levels, which would have to increase tenfold to 2 million plus to reflect a truly viable and profitable industry. The myth that “the vast majority of the money goes to the ruling junta” can only be thought up by persons who can have no idea at all how the tourism industry operates in Burma, or indeed anywhere in the world, for that matter. It is a cut-throat business, and in the present world economic recession with travel firms collapsing all the time, profits are at an all-time low. Sheer survival is the name of the game. No doubt the new visa-on-arrival scheme is designed to boost travel so that the industry can achieve profitable levels sooner rather than later.
@Derek Tonkin: Go sleep with Than Shwe s’more.
all immigraton officers will try to make more money frm the tourist.will give more problems to people who enter without visa.more money for immigration officers at the air port
Would you prefer to wait 2-5 days or get your Visa in the Airport ?
Either way you pay for it ?
I think Derek Tonkin has a point even if he is in bed with Mr Than Shwe’s and his Piglet of a Daughter.
I think he may of over estimated the gross number of arrivals though since those figures seem represent boarder crossings to from Thailand etc as well.
There is no way Burma has 227,400 international visitors flying in through international airports.
I can’t think of a single reason that makes it OK for tourists to travel to Burma.
Hearing of his background in the hotel business, I understand a lot better why Mr.Tonkin seems pro-regime. However, he does seem to represent the ugly side of foreign investments in Burma.
I can picture the tourists living like Kings in his company’s hotels, dropping their $1000 each drinking iced champagne, arranging boat trips and balloon tours and of course always remembering to refer to the country as Myanmar, while nine out of ten *Burmese citizens they meet during their trip live in state & foreign investment induced poverty.
(*probably not allowed to be in the vicinity of the hotel property)
But I bet the travel agents will do a great job of telling them they will see the REAL *Myanmar. (*Burma)
If they are lucky, they may even get to kowtow to the same jade Buddha statue as Ibrahim Gambari and Ban Ki Moon got to kowtow to!
(the one carved with the face of Than Shwe)
Just remember NOT to ask any of the attendant monks just how many monks the monk-killers killed in 2007!
Of course, the tourists won’t be allowed to travel freely to the majority of the countryside, to the cyclone ravaged areas, nor anywhere behind the Bamboo Curtain where they might witness first-hand the fear, the forced labor, the relocation camps, or the victims of Burma army rapes, beatings and torture.
Nope, from their air conditioned buses they will never see the starvation caused by the Burma army shock troops when they burn crops at harvest time, or the destroyed villages, schools, and churches in the ethnic minority homelands.
But they WILL have the privilege of being among the special liberal-minded westerners who see fit to go against the wishes of the last leader elected by the citizens of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, who asked that westerners avoid tourism to Burma.
So remember, don’t worry about supporting freedom, democracy, or human rights, support Mr.Tonkin’s investment company, and your travel agent.
And don’t worry about Aung San Suu Kyi’s asking for tourists not to come to Burma, she obviously was talking about someone else who is not special like you.
And of course, don’t worry about that man in your tour group wearing the short sleeved button-down shirt and the longyi, you know, the guy that all of the Burmese people seem really nervous around? He is just there for your protection….from the truth.
I can actually think of many reason why travellers should go to Myanmar. Independently, though, and not on a package tour of a government travel agency.
The main reason being, people in Myanmar are poor. Much poorer than in any other Asian countries. When I was there, I met many young Burmese, university educated, who could not find a job. So, the only real industry for them to make any kind of money, this being about $20-$100 US a month, is tourism. So, they work in restaurants, as tour guides, souvenir sellers, internet shop operators etc. So, the more tourists go, the more of them can have a better life. Take a trishaw, buy a painting or a souvenir or a longji. Eat at the street stalls. Take buses. Talk to people. And those people who go that way can learn more about the Burmese people and their different opinions and lifes. I don’t think you can get that from reading the news and the internet.
When I was in Burma just now, I heard many different things and came away with a better understanding of the Burmese people. And I didn’t join a single tour group or ever had an official guide.
Thank you myanmar backpacker for your insights.
Since you didn’t mention learning any negative aspects of Burma, I would be thrilled to know what your “university educated” tour guides told you about the locations in Burma (almost anywhere outside of the cities and tourist venues) where the illegal SPDC government would have forbidden you to travel to.
And whether they told you that right now, and for many decades before THEY were born, millions of Burmese ethnic minority citizens have suffered some of the worst human rights violations, ethnic and religious persecution, forced labour, forced relocation, and starvation known in modern history.
You could even say suffering and ethnic persecution of Biblical proportions.
Surely they must have mentioned that the Burma army commanded by your hosts, the SPDC is well known for looting and burning villages, and for using rape, beatings, torture, summary execution, and starvation to control Burmese ethnic minority citizens.
And, that THESE BURMESE CITIZENS were suffering and dying in Burma while YOU were visiting, eating at street stalls, buying your longyis and learning all about the Burmese people who live in the lap of comparitive luxury in the cities.
If they didn’t mention these important issues which affect approximately one-third of Burma’s 50,000,000+ citizens, do you think they were just protecting you from the truth because it may have made you uncomfortable?
I also wonder whether they told you how fortunate they were to have the opportunity to gain a university education, while most of the children of Burmese ethnic minority citizens who live behind the Bamboo curtain don’t have the opportunity to attend school beyond the fourth grade.
That is of course a major achievement when you consider that the Burma army burns their schools and churches, and that many tens of thousands of ethnic minority children die of treatable diseases or malnutrition each year, before they ever reach school age.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who is basically the only person alive in Burma who was ever elected by the Burmese citizens, asked for westerners to avoid tourism until such time as the SPDC allows free and fair democratic elections, and the human rights violations, ethnic, religious, and political persecution come to an end.
I think it is disgusting that many tourists think they are somehow special, and exempt from Daw Suu’s request.
How cold and heartless can they be to go to Burma for a vacation, while millions of Burmese ethnic minority citizens suffer unspeakable hardships at the hands of the SPDC regime?
Time and time again, those who ignore Aung San Suu Kyi’s request to avoid tourism in Burma say that they were able to learn about the Burmese people during their stay, yet in reality they completely missed the UGLY TRUTH.
What is even worse, is that they were ignorant/apathetic of the truth before they went to Burma in the first place.
Human rights are not so great in, say, China, but we are not told to stay away from there. Why? Because China has international clout; Myanmar doesn’t.
I went to Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay,Ngapali and Inle Lake. People seemed as happy as in any other developing SE Asian nation, and were certainly glad of my business.Of course I know there are places where visitors are not allowed to go (same is true in China)but I don’t see how my staying away would have helped anyone. Visitors have never been allowed to travel to N. Korea, but that doesn’t seem to have toppled the regime there.I have respect for Aung San Suu Kyi, but, like all politicians, she wants power, and is not necessarily right in everything she says.
Myanmar is a beautiful country and I think it is a very nice place to visit. I don’t think the warnings to avoid Myanmar nor the embargo do any good to any of the citizens. Of course, in each and every country, there is always the ugly truth. Even the most developed countries have its problems with homelessness, human right abuses, discrimination and so forth. Of course, I am not saying it’s justifiable or even comparable. In my opinion, I think having people visiting and boosting the economy one way or another would definitely have some impact on the improvements. We could somehow hope that the revenue would have some kind of trickle down effect.
we are family of 2 adults , 1 child. we want to visit burma from nov 4th to nov 8th. we are indian passport, pr singapoe. i would like o know how to get visa on arrival.
Thethai travel agency here in huahin told me it was not possible to have a burmese Visa on arrival ?I would like to be re assured , before buying my ticket, that Visa on arrival is possible .