Myanmar gets tough on zoning

December 16, 2015 GoAsiaDayTrip 0 Comments

BAGAN, 16 December 2015: Myanmar’s tourism authorities have terminated licenses for over 40 accommodation suppliers in Bagan’s heritage zone to improve the chances of the ancient city being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Myanmar Times reported Bagan residents began building guesthouses after tourism started to take off in 2011. Many of guesthouses are still under construction and are located in the protected zone declared by the Ministry of Culture around historic Bagan. A Myanmar Tourism Federation official confirmed to The Myanmar Times that between 40 and 50 guesthouses have been forced to close. inside no 1The Ministry of Culture is enforcing a protected zone as part of efforts to gain UNESCO World Heritage status which the government hopes to achieve by 2017.

A draft master plan for the protection of ancient sites in accordance with UNESCO standards will be completed next month, the report said. In May, a team of local and international experts began assessing hotels in the Bagan area for compliance with a 1998 law that banned development inside cultural heritage sites.

Some of the hotels were built prior to the introduction of the law, while others were allowed to contravene the law, due to links with the military.

Ministry of Hotels and Tourism director, U Myo Win Nyunt, said the ministry granted licenses to 78 hotels at Bagan, of which only one was outside the protected zone. They are now all deemed illegal.

Last year, more than 230,000 foreign tourists visited Bagan. Until the end of October, this year, the town received 182,000 tourists. Bagan is an ancient city located in Mandalay Region built between the 9th and 11th centuries, during an era when some 55 Buddhist kings ruled the Bagan Dynasty.

Bagan Archaeological Zone covers about 42 sq km (16 miles) and has more than 3,000 pagodas.

Myanmar has nominated 14 sites for inclusion on the World Heritage List, including Mandalay’s ancient kingdoms and Mrauk U in Arakan State. So far, only the ancient cities of Pyi have been added to the prestigious list.