3 Feb, 2015
Imtiaz Muqbil
Nay Pyi Taw – The opening up of Myanmar to tourism is certainly having an extensive trickle-down effect on the country’s small and medium sized enterprises and independent owners / operators of many products and services. Many of them took the opportunity to participate in the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2015 and gain some international exposure.
I am happy to support the cause with this pictorial montage of some of the exhibitors.
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This booth featured a great selection of locally-made arts and crafts, a huge help for the cause of poverty alleviation. |
The Vintage Luxury Yacht Hotel was the only one with a mini mock-up of its rooms. |
New theme-show in Bagan, similar to the Siam Niramit in Bangkok |
This exhibitor featured a collection of small boutique hotels in the Inle Lake area. |
One tour company featured stops at old steam locomotives dating back to the British colonial era. |
Locally-owned Premier Coffee was offering free tastings. A very good coffee it was, too. Mercifully, we were able to avoid that awful Nescafe. Julie’s ice-cream was pretty good, too. |
The three-in-one coffee mix was excellent. Free tastings gave all ATF 2015 a chance to stop by and get a regular coffee fix. |
Myanmar whisky was also on display, but no free tastings. |
This was not an exhibitor but a snack-bar, reflecting a small attempt being made to cater to the Muslim travellers. I asked the attendant if she knew what “halal” meant. She said it’s what Muslims eat, but that was it. As for the ‘buger’, what would life be like without another hilarious spelling mistake? |
If there is an “Amazing Thailand”, it was only a matter of time before an Amazing Hotels & Resorts came up. |
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