'Traitors' can't deter tourists: Myanmar

'Traitors' can't deter tourists: Myanmar

YANGON (Reuter): Tourist arrivals in Myanmar are up
significantly despite attempts by "traitors" and their foreign
supporters to derail the tourism industry, Myanmar's state media
said yesterday.

"A significant increase in the number of tourist arrivals ...
proves that attempts by internal traitors who are relying on
alien nations with the help of some foreign correspondents and
columnists to hinder the nation's tourism industry ... are
unsuccessful," the official Myanmar News Agency (MNA) said.

The agency did not identify the "traitors," but Nobel laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy colleagues
have urged tourists not to visit Myanmar until democracy is
restored.

Suu Kyi has also called on foreign businesses to delay
investing in Myanmar until the military rulers move towards
democratic rule.

The government has designated 1996 Visit Myanmar (Burma) Year
in what Yangon-based diplomats see as a bid to tap the lucrative
tourist market.

The MNA said there were 46,337 tourist arrivals in the first
four months of the fiscal year that began on April 1, a 57
percent increase from the same period last year.

Authorities originally had hoped 500,000 people would visit
the country during 1996, but industry analysts said the target
was far too high given Myanmar's creaking infrastructure. The
1996 target was later lowered to around 250,000-300,000 arrivals.

Some 150,000 foreigners visited Myanmar last year, according
to official statistics.