Westin Hotels & Resorts, an American upscale hotel chain owned by Marriott International, will open their first hotel in Myanmar in the course of two years. It will be part of the US$400 million Yoma Central mixed development project by Yoma Strategic Holdings in downtown Yangon.
The 26-storey hotel will add more 281 rooms to Yangon's hotel rooms offering. It is estimated that currently Yangon already has about 5500 four- and five-star hotel rooms with over a half of them remaining unoccupied.
Yet the experts of Colliers International predict growth of demand for hotel rooms thanks to rising numbers of tourist arrivals. The driving force behind this rise is the Chinese tourists. Currently Yangon International Airport handles direct flights to 35 international destinations with 18 of them being the Chinese ones. 13 Chinese carriers now operate routes between different destinations in China and YIA.
Relaxing of visa requirements also makes its contribution to the growth of tourist sector. Australian, German, Italian, Spainish, Swiss, and Russian nationalities were granted visa-on-arrival access to Myanmar when entering through Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw airports in October 2019. Last year, the VOA scheme was introduced for tourists from China and India while visitors from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Macau were granted visa-free entry to the country.
First Westin Hotel to Open in Yangon in 2021
News in Asia
By the end of 2021 Myanmar will get the country's first five-star Westin hotel, a representative of Marriott International's Asia Pacific confirmed recently.