CNI News

14 November 2023

As the Tazaungdaing Festival will be held in southern Shan State, almost every hotel room there has been booked for the Tazaungdaing holiday. 

However, as battles are taking place in northern Shan State, there is no tourist who will go there reportedly.

Because the Taunggyi Tazaungdaing Balloon Festival will be held in a crowded manner from 21st to 27th November, there have been hardly any rooms to be booked at present, U Sithu Kyaw, deputy director of the Shan State Hotel and Tourism Directorate, told CNI News.

" It seems to be difficult to get a hotel room for the Tazaungdaing festival days. Rooms are not available at all for 25th and 26th November. The office holiday becomes three days including Tazaungdaing Festival day. After that, the Mee Shaw Taing (Fire Pole) Festival will be held in Kalaw. So, hotel rooms will be fully booked." he said.

While seeing people who are trapped near Par Sin Kyaw Village between Laukkai and Chin Shwe Haw

During the Tazaungdaing Festival, about nine balloons will be launched each night and beautiful balloons will be also launched in the daytime reportedly.

This year balloon festival will be held to become like the situation before the Covid-19 pandemic reportedly. 

Although there are festivals and hotel bookings in southern Shan State, there are hardly any tourists who come to northern Shan State and the tourists who were staying there have already gone back, U Zaw Zaw, chairman of the Hotel Entrepreneurs Association (northern Shan State), told CNI News.

IDP camps that are opened at BP-125, Chinese-Myanmar border

" Last year, there were quite a lot of tourists who came here. At a time like this last year, if you didn't book hotel rooms three days in advance, you wouldn't get a room. Because the battles are taking place in many parts, few tourists have come here. Even tourists who have already arrived here find it difficult to go home. There are many IDPs only in the border area. Chinese tourists haven't come. There are hardly any tourists who enter here." said U Zaw Zaw.

Moreover, tourists have been limited to enter northern Shan State since before. The tourism sector will recover only if the current battles end, the roads are safe and the flow of goods can run normally, said people. 
 
In addition, airlines going to northern Shan State have been closed since October 28 and have not been reopened to date reportedly.