CNI News

31 Mar 2023

Although the floating Inlay Thingyan festival, which has been suspended since the outbreak of COVID-19, has been sceduled to resume this year, it is too late to attract domestic and foreign tourists, hoteliers and tour operators told the CNI.

Although it was necessary to advertise the floating water festival comprehensively to domestic and foreign tourists, organizers were too late to announce the program, Deputy Director U Sithu Kyaw of Directorate of Hotels and Tourism told the CNI.

He said, "In fact, they were required to organize and sell the package tours far ahead of the festival. As they seemed to arrange the festival too late, it was difficult to sell the package. Such a festival should have been announced earlier so that tour operators could sell the packages. The most important factor is to make the package known to the foreign tourist and the public earlier. The organizers failed to make foreigners known what a floating Thingyan festival is. They needed to promote the package. It is too late to do so."

The Inlay floating Thingyan is to be scheduled for the first time after the outbreak of COVID-19 and pavilions and rafts are being repaired.

A floating Thingyan pavilion on the Inle lake in the past.

In the past, Nyaungshwe was a tour destination and hundreds of thousands of tourists participated in the festival, according to the MTEA.

However, it is expected that only domestic tourists will visit the lake, Chairman U Naung Naung Han of the MTEA told the CNI.

He said," During the Thingyan festival, domestic tourism is important for us. In the past, we were able to sell all packages before the Thingyan festivals. We arranged related tours to Pindaya and Kalaw and souvenir shops. Local people earned a lot of income."

It is reported that the majority of domestic tourists are travelling to beaches, Shan state, Mandalay and Bagan, according to the MTEA.