Hospitality And Tourism Forum Planned For February 2013

Hospitality and tourism forum planned for February 2013

Myanmar Times

By Zaw Win Than | Monday, 08 October 2012

Myanmar Tourism Federation and Singapore-based company Sphere Conferences will hold a tourism investment conference from February 26 to 28, 2013.

The signing ceremony for the conference was held on October 2 at Traders Hotel in Yangon, which will also be the venue for the event.

“We lack experience in promoting Myanmar’s tourism industry, which is why we signed this agreement for its future promotion,” said MTF chair U Yan Win.

The Myanmar Hospitality and Tourism Conference 2013 will involve investors, owners, developers and operators, as well as government officials, industry associations and leaders.

The conference will aim to showcase Myanmar’s potential “to position itself as a major tourist destination”, according to Sphere’s website.

“This is a wonderful collaboration. Our goal is to understand the needs of the tourism and hospitality sectors in Myanmar and to forge links with businesses to promote growth,” said Mr Chua Wee Phong, chair of Sphere Conferences.

A recent study by Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Myanmar’s GDP could grow by as much as 7 to 8 percent in coming years, and tourism is considered a potential driver of both economic growth and poverty alleviation.

Sphere Conferences said in a statement that Myanmar has “untapped tourism potential, with less than a million tourists having visited Myanmar in 2010, as compared to the 16 million tourists who visited Thailand in the same year.”

http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/2293-hospitality-and-tourism-forum-planned-for-february-2013.html