A lot of business industries in Myanmar have been effected by the outcome of the election in November 2015. International investors and large business groups from all over the world have been eyeing Myanmar for a long time and after the election, they started to make investments competitively to be the first in the newly reformed market because of the country’s potential in revenue and cheap labor.
One of the business industries, Hospitality has been growing massively after the election. Arno Maierbrugger from Investvine said that “Myanmar has experienced unprecedented growth in tourist arrivals since 2010 when visitor restrictions were eased.” The growth in tourist arrivals rocketed the hospitality industry’s economy and it won’t be going down anytime soon. According to Goh York Lin, president of Myanmar branch of Singapore’s property company Keppel Land, the country just started a long-run economic development cycle.
The Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) has approved a lot of large number of projects in 30 March 2016 which could potentially bring in more tourist to the country. Eleven Myanmar Media reported that foreign investment with 63 projects has reached $ 2.5 billion and domestic investment with 94 projects has reached $ 620 million because of MIC’s approval. Myanmar’s economy is expected to grow 8.4%, this year, achieving the highest growth rate in Asia. (The Asian Development Bank). Myanmar’s southern part, the Tanintharyi region attracted investments of $150 million. And also, Thailand’s Pongpipat Development Co Ltd is planning to invest $125 million.
The United States has recently pledged that they are going to lift sanction from Myanmar in near future. Eventually, it is going to attract more international business to come into Myanmar and also going to affect in positive ways, the Hospitality industry. Due to these facts, I strongly believe that we are going to have economic growth in Hospitality industry and better days for our country’s tourism will be here in no time.
Written by Soe Pyae Sone