“Some Yangonites are already going to Sel Ein Tan to escape city life and to to eat sea food. While infrastructure like water and electricity are present in the area, the regional government will do more to improve facilities in the area,” said Yangon Region Tourism Minister Daw Naw Pan Thinzar Myo.

The Sel Ein Tan beach area is a two-hour drive from Yangon and, according to tourism officials, some 1,500 local travellers visit every week.

The regional government says the next step will be to draw up a master plan for improving the area.

“Letkhokkon and Sel Ein, with their mangrove forests is already a destination for locals. If it is upgraded with good infrastructure, it can become an attraction for foreign tourists as well,” said U Kyaw Swa, tour operator from the area.

The Yangon Region Government has solicited input from local tourism businesses that suggest more be done to promote bird watching and tours of mangrove forests in the area.

During a meeting of the Regional Tourism Committee on Monday, it was revealed that Yangon Region generated some K150 billion (US$98.2 million) in revenue between May and December this year.

The region was also the destination for significant amounts of foreign and local investments in the tourism sector.

The total investments in the region’s tourism sector has not yet been tallied as some projects might have been proposed directly to the Myanmar Investment Commission, said Daw Naw Pan Thinzar Myo.

This year alone the Yangon Region government approved 32 hotel permits, 20 hotel-construction projects, and 14 inn-construction projects, and other tourism-related licences that will result in another 2,600 rooms becoming available eventually.

Previously, the union government oversaw the approval of hotel and inn development projects, but the Tourism Law enacted in December 2018 granted regional and state tourism committees the authority to approve such projects.

According to the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, over 1.5 million tourists visited Myanmar between January and October this year, an increase of 430,000 compared with the same period last year. – Translated

Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/plans-develop-new-coastal-tourism-area-yangon-region.html