Myanmar is planning some tourism festivals to attract more tourists worldwide to the country with assurance of taking security of the visitors, the local weekly Voice reported Monday.

Quoting the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, the report stressed the important role of the private sector in the development of tourism industry.

The ministry is urging private tour operators to cooperate with the government, saying that assistance will be rendered to them in the implementation as well as to win international links with regard to the sector.

According to the ministry's figures, in the fiscal year 2005-06, which ended in March, a total of 660,206 tourists visited Myanmar. Of them, cross-border tourists accounted for the majority with 427, 980, while 227,300 entered through Yangon check point and 4,918 through Mandalay and Bagan's.

The fiscal year's tourist arrivals have hit a record high in the past five years, registering an earning through tourism during the year at over 150 million U.S. dollars, up from only 17 million dollars in the previous year.

The figures also indicate that there are 596 hotels, motels and guest houses in Myanmar providing a total of over 18,500 rooms. The number of travel agencies in operation stands over 500.

More figures reveal that contracted foreign investment in the sector of hotels and tourism has so far amounted to 1.06 billion dollars since Myanmar started to open to such investment in late 1988. The investment in hotel projects amounted to over 580 million dollars.

Source: Xinhua