Myanmar 'No Threat To Thai Tourism'

[webfact]

Myanmar 'no threat to Thai tourism'

BAMRUNG AMNARTCHAROENRIT

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- Thailand will not lose its leadership among regional destinations from the opening of the tourism industry in Myanmar because of its quality facilities and professionalism, an expert said last week.

In contrast, Thailand stands to benefit because the young and fresh scenario of Myanmar will help boost regional travel by offering new products to increase tourist arrivals, said Steven Schipani, a social sector specialist of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) based in Bangkok.

Thailand will still play a key role as the gateway to the region. The bank's research found that 30 foreign travellers out of every 100 visiting the Asean bloc have seen two countries.

In his talk to The Nation, his message was clear that Myanmar would help create a "choice'' for foreigners during their regional travel, and was not a threat to Thailand.

Myanmar is still far behind Thailand in development. Its infrastructure, such as road network, electricity and sanitation, is still poor. Hotel standards are not good. People working in the industry from chef to tour guide lack professionalism. Also, the hospitality of the local people leaves much to be desired, especially concerning unfair service.

The ADB is working with Myanmar's Ministry of Hotels and Tourism (MOHT) to craft a tourism master plan. Tourism is considered as an important industry to build the country's prosperity. Even Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader, has said tourism was one of her first priorities to help drive economic activities.

The tourism master plan, with US$225,000 in support from the government of Norway, will draw on advice from specialists around the world on aspects such as tourism, the environment, cultural heritage and marketing.

The process has started. Six professionals are expected to be selected by August to work with the bank. The master plan will be completed next year and submitted to the MOHT to start taking action.

One of its ambitions is job creation to get rid of poverty and narrow the gender gap. Women will be allowed to work to augment their household income and play a more prominent role in the economy. Exploiting children for labour and women for the sex trade will not be allowed.

Neighbouring nations, especially Thailand, can offer tourism lessons from an environmental and social standpoint. The plan will also be in line with the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) cooperation, which is an effort to promote the subregion as a single tourism destination. The GMS countries are Cambodia, China, including Yunnan province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

The cooperation is expected to bring progress to all nations in the fast-growing region. However, tourism in the six GMS nations is still out of balance. Last year, 38 million visited the GMS, but half of the trips were to Thailand, he added.

-- The Nation 2012-06-25

[theblether]

Controversially!!!!!..............I agree for now.................however!!!!.................complacency will undo Thailand.

In the medium to long term Burma will build the infrastructure required to damage Thai tourism, that will take time though. Thailand should be using that time to ensure that they are giving better customer service and a better product to tourists, in preparation for certain competition.

We know that's what they should be doing, we also know there is no chance of Thailand doing that. There will be trouble ahead.

[Soutpeel]

"The tourism master plan, with US$225,000 in support from the government of Norway, will draw on advice from specialists around the world on aspects such as tourism, the environment, cultural heritage and marketing"

And therein is the reason why Burma will ultimately surpass Thailand...they are prepared to ask for and take advice....unlike Thailand...Farang no understand....

[Moruya]

Infrastructure- agreed it will take time.

Professionalism? Do me a favour.

Murders, hotel fires, scams, ruined beaches, polution, rubbish, riots, floods, lawlessness etc. Will also play their part.

[theblether]

"The tourism master plan, with US$225,000 in support from the government of Norway, will draw on advice from specialists around the world on aspects such as tourism, the environment, cultural heritage and marketing"

And therein is the reason why Burma will ultimately surpass Thailand...they are prepared to ask for and take advice....unlike Thailand...Farang no understand....

I agree with that..........Burma has a collective memory of the way it used to be, and a thirst to reclaim it's rightful place, as a beautiful, progressive, modern nation.

I can only hope it can maintain the political progress, if so the future is bright, the future is Burma.

[edwinclapham]

There will be no contest. The "well read" stand to win hands down!

[theblether]

Infrastructure- agreed it will take time.

Professionalism? Do me a favour.

Murders, hotel fires, scams, ruined beaches, polution, rubbish, riots, floods, lawlessness etc. Will also play their part.

Enough about Thailand.............................the topic is about Burma

[Reasonableman]

How often have you heard the complacent "mai nah mii banhaa", quickly followed by the imminent problem. Thailand, please wake up. You are dreaming.

[jonclark]

Exploiting children for labour and women for the sex trade will not be allowed.

Thailand read and learn.............

[mrmazinkle]

Infrastructure- agreed it will take time.

Professionalism? Do me a favour.

Murders, hotel fires, scams, ruined beaches, polution, rubbish, riots, floods, lawlessness etc. Will also play their part.

Enough about Thailand.............................the topic is about Burma

No it isn't.I would say its much more about Thialand than Burma.MO

[ricku]

Exploiting children for labour and women for the sex trade will not be allowed.

Thailand read and learn.............

Yeah, the ugly sex trade is still up and running in Thailand, with full support from the government.. But child labour has been pretty much eradicated, hasn't it? (Apart from the occasional car window washers, flower sellers e.t.c)

Edited June 25, 2012 by ricku

[edwinclapham]

I sincerely hope that the various Burmese HR departments treat their Thai personnel well

[TheWalkingMan]

People working in the industry from chef to tour guide lack professionalism.

[h90]

Infrastructure- agreed it will take time.

Professionalism? Do me a favour.

Murders, hotel fires, scams, ruined beaches, polution, rubbish, riots, floods, lawlessness etc. Will also play their part.

3, 4 and 5 star hotels where the night shift can't speak english......

Edit: and some professionals may work in Myanmar in future....

Edited June 25, 2012 by h90

[WhizBang]

Yes Thailand, time to wake up. The writing is on the wall. Oh right, English literacy in Thailand is almost nonexistant, so no one will get the message.

Burma may not have the infrastructure today, but give them a few years to develop it... then what excuses can Thailand give.

Thailand needs to tackle it's core problems NOW. Corruption, the BiB mafia, countless scams, increasingly violent crime against foreigners, total and complete lack of the rule of law. I could go on, but why bother... Thailand will do nothing, in fact, I strongly suspect the problems to continue to worsen.

In my opinion, Thailand IS a failed state.

Thailand needs it's own Aung San Suu Kyi. Someone who has vision, a strong moral and ethical character and someone committed to leading the country out of the quagmire it is currently in. That person is not the current puppet PM (nor her brother).

[LuckyLew]

IMO opinion there will be a few factors that will decide who much tourism flourishes in Burma

The first being how fast can Burma put in place the needed infrastructure. Another big factor

will be the Burmese professionalism and service in their efforts to make the country open and

make it a desired destination. Major tourism is rather new to Burma and when starting out it

will not take much to turn people of going there. A perceived lack of corruption and a lack of

mafia style groups will definately help

[noitom]

No country can realistically hope to surpass Thailand in sex trade expertise. As Myanmar grows its legitimate tourist economy, Thailand will continue to invest and proliferate its sex trade. They are the masters. Thais know how to do this, they are the world's experts in selling sex. So if Schipani can decode the Thai black economy and figure out how much money the Thai sex trade really represents, he can then make projections that really count. It would be very interesting to see the "behind close doors" breakdown of the ADB "internal" discussions to see what they really think.

[Moruya]

Yes Thailand, time to wake up. The writing is on the wall. Oh right, English literacy in Thailand is almost nonexistant, so no one will get the message.

Burma may not have the infrastructure today, but give them a few years to develop it... then what excuses can Thailand give.

Thailand needs to tackle it's core problems NOW. Corruption, the BiB mafia, countless scams, increasingly violent crime against foreigners, total and complete lack of the rule of law. I could go on, but why bother... Thailand will do nothing, in fact, I strongly suspect the problems to continue to worsen.

In my opinion, Thailand IS a failed state.

Thailand needs it's own Aung San Suu Kyi. Someone who has vision, a strong moral and ethical character and someone committed to leading the country out of the quagmire it is currently in. That person is not the current puppet PM (nor her brother).

Very good points - great post.

[jaltsc]

The death knell of any business: "We are the best at what we do. We have always done it this way, No need to change anything". Just ask Kodak, AT&T, Western Union, Woolworth's, the American steel industry, etc. how well that worked for them. If Thailand wants to remain the leader of regional tourism, it needs to move forward and create a more attractive and safer destination, not rest on its ego.

[clockman]

Not Yet?

[Katipo]

"Also, the hospitality of the local people leaves much to be desired, especially concerning unfair service." -That wasn't my experience.

I spent 9 days in Myanmar over Songkran. Yangon, Inle, Mandalay, and Bagan, from guesthouses to 4 star hotels. The service I experienced was the same or better as other places in the region, and the hospitality of the people was much better.

[scorecard]

"The tourism master plan, with US$225,000 in support from the government of Norway, will draw on advice from specialists around the world on aspects such as tourism, the environment, cultural heritage and marketing"

And therein is the reason why Burma will ultimately surpass Thailand...they are prepared to ask for and take advice....unlike Thailand...Farang no understand....

I agree with that..........Burma has a collective memory of the way it used to be, and a thirst to reclaim it's rightful place, as a beautiful, progressive, modern nation.

I can only hope it can maintain the political progress, if so the future is bright, the future is Burma.

On top of that, the Burmese are keen to learn, and keen to apply their learning for the benefit if their country. I have 6 Burmese students in my MBA classs (in Bangkok) right now. They all speak advanced English, they listen, they have no hesitation to ask (good) questions, always polite, they are always in the classroom before start time, they always hand in their homework, often within 24 hours - well before the one week deadline, they always end up doing most of the work in small group case studies whilst most of their Thai classmates are doing SMS etc.

Edited June 25, 2012 by scorecard

[clockman]

Just the sort of attitude that destroyed the motorcycle industry in Britain. Complacency !

[jalansanitwong]

Being a former British colony will certainly help the Burmese when the ASEAN accord comes on line soon.They will be far more receptive to outsiders when being offered advice. If Thailand thinks its going to benefit with its useless English speaking skills and bizarre ego its dreaming of better times.

As soon as Thailand has serous competition ala Burma..... thats it. no pobem !!!

[Kalbo]

'Also, the hospitality of the local people leaves much to be desired, especially concerning unfair service'

Complete rubbish. While I'm sure there are more than a few bad people there, the vast majority of the Burmese are as sweet as

can be, far more so than the Thai's. On a different note, one aspect of this all that causes me to reflect a while, is that it would be an absolute

travesty if the Burmese were to develop the same close minded materialism that their Thai cousins seem to be infected with.

Anyone who has ever spent time is Burma will have seen the people's happy resilience to almost anything, and the last thing

they need is some NGO do-gooder telling them how they should develop.

[Pseudolus]

What they are really saying is that as they, and their HiSo buddies are already in there buying up land, building resorts, opening companies, there is no threat to their personal pockets as they will get richer by it. However, to Thailand Tourism, there is a big danger; Myanmar might just look at the folly Thailand has become and decent that they will progress faster and stronger if they do things right. Won't matter though because the HiSo familes will make so much money from Myanmar that they will be laughing all the way to the banks that they own.

[chrisinth]

Controversially!!!!!..............I agree for now.................however!!!!.................complacency will undo Thailand.

In the medium to long term Burma will build the infrastructure required to damage Thai tourism, that will take time though. Thailand should be using that time to ensure that they are giving better customer service and a better product to tourists, in preparation for certain competition.

We know that's what they should be doing, we also know there is no chance of Thailand doing that. There will be trouble ahead.

In addition to that, in the short/medium time frame, will be for Burma to offer relatively "raw" nature instead of the commercial holiday destinations that Thailand now offer. Over priced and over rated!

How appealing will that be for tourists? It is after all how Thailand started (American R&R excluded)...........

[saltandpepper]

I would not be so sure if I were the Thai minister o tourism

People will soon see that Burma is interesting, and still in a "natural" condition. This country has not been spoiled yet by the western way of life, and construction have not yet destroyed the landscape.

As soon as infrastructures are better, I bet tourism will significantly shift from Thailand to Burma

[noitom]

'Also, the hospitality of the local people leaves much to be desired, especially concerning unfair service'

Complete rubbish. While I'm sure there are more than a few bad people there, the vast majority of the Burmese are as sweet as

can be, far more so than the Thai's. On a different note, one aspect of this all that causes me to reflect a while, is that it would be an absolute

travesty if the Burmese were to develop the same close minded materialism that their Thai cousins seem to be infected with.

Anyone who has ever spent time is Burma will have seen the people's happy resilience to almost anything, and the last thing

they need is some NGO do-gooder telling them how they should develop.

And that NGO dogooder is getting a nice fat paycheck that gets funded by contributions from struggling tax paying countries.

[tzthib]

I think the smart money is on Burma. I wish I had the opportunity to go over there for a while, I would love to find myself on the ground floor of this whole thing...