Crisis-hit Myanmar is preparing to open the doors to foreign tourists early next year, an eye-brow-raising development given the current state of play in the country.

Late last month Union Minister for Hotels and Tourism Htay Aung said his country is finalising procedures for reopening its tourism sector to foreigners early next year and will initially target visitors from Southeast Asia, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The Myanmar government effort comes as new COVID-19 infections decelerate in the nation of 55 million, which has prompted the lifting of a ban on inter-provincial travel. The easing and traditional holidays have already spurred some locals to go on vacation, Htay Aung said.

“We are preparing for necessary arrangements for travel bubbles with Thailand so that we will be ready when they reach out to us through an official channel,” he said in an interview. “We also aim at reopening to Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam in the first quarter of 2022.”

One target is to draw in tourists from Thailand so that Thais can safely visit popular tourist destinations in and around Kawthoung, Myeik, Dawei, Tachileik and Kyaington.

About 300,000 foreigners are expected in the first phase of the reopening, Htay Aung said. Although half of the country’s hotels and guest houses have suspended operations, some 90,000 rooms are still available, he said, according to the Bloomberg report.

Kempinski Group, Europe’s oldest luxury hotel chain, recently announced that it was ceasing operations in the nation’s capital Nay Pyi Taw, citing “current circumstances.”

Tourism contributed about 6 percent of Myanmar’s gross domestic product in 2019 before the pandemic, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.

“The potential is there but it will take years to return to the level we reached before the pandemic,” Htay Aung said.

Myanmar is currently is a situation of near civil war with fighting and violent incidents happening in many areas around the country.

Reporting Bloomberg, Mizzima, AFP