Conflict and Crisis Leave Bagan Desperate for Tourists

via The Tribune, 29 July 2024: Bagan, Myanmar’s UNESCO World Heritage site, is struggling with a severe tourism downturn due to the ongoing conflict following the 2021 military coup. Once a popular destination, the city now sees very few visitors, leaving locals grappling with economic hardship as hotels, restaurants, and vendors struggle to stay afloat.

As sanctions bite and the local kyat currency plunges against the dollar, the isolated junta says it wants more international tourists to bring their money to Myanmar. According to an official at the junta’s ministry of hotels and tourism, foreign tourist arrivals in 2023 reached over one million, up from around 200,000 the previous year. Neighbouring Thailand saw about 28 million people visit in the same year.

Most arrivals to Myanmar in 2023 were from China and Thailand, according to state media. But in September of that year, the junta lashed out at a blockbuster Chinese film about human trafficking and scam compounds that had “tarnished” Myanmar’s reputation.

No More Bets tells the story of a computer programmer who is trafficked to an unnamed Southeast Asian country and forced to work as an online scammer for a syndicate.

It does not mention Myanmar by name, but its setting resembles the country’s lawless northern reaches, where China says its citizens are regularly lured or trafficked and forced to work scamming their compatriots.

Source: Myanmar’s temple city desperate for tourists