Hotels and guesthouses at Ngapali Beach fill up for Thingyan holiday

By Admin 03 Apr 2023

DMG Newsroom
3 April 2023, Ngapali

A large number of domestic visitors are booking rooms for holiday trips during the upcoming Thingyan New Year festivities at hotels and guesthouses near the well-known Ngapali Beach in Thandwe Township, Arakan State.

Most visitors booking rooms for the Thingyan holiday are from Yangon and Mandalay regions, as well as Shan and Arakan states. Peak booking covers this year’s Thingyan period from April 13-17, according to hoteliers.

“Visitor arrivals to Ngapali Beach have been on the rise this year. All hotels and guesthouses in Ngapali have already been booked since April 8,” said a local hotelier in Ngapali town.

Ko Soe Wai, a souvenir vendor in Ngapali, said arrivals began ticking up weeks ahead of the official Thingyan holiday period.

“Starting from the last week of March this year, the influx of visitors to Ngapali Beach is quite high,” he said. “During the Thingyan holiday last year, about K2 million worth of souvenirs were sold because of the large number of visitors, which was enough to feed the family. I hope to sell souvenirs well this year.”

Despite the encouraging number of domestic travellers to Ngapali Beach, foreign tourists remain almost non-existent, according to people working in the hotels and tourism industry.

“There is a difference in revenues between domestic and foreign tourist arrivals. If foreign tourists visit, it is more convenient for hoteliers because they get paid in dollars,” said Ko Tun Thant Kyaw, a local hotelier.

Ngapali is located about 4 miles from Thandwe and features a 2-mile-long beach that has long drawn crowds of sun-seekers and holidaymakers.

There were more than 15,000 tourist arrivals to Arakan State during the Thingyan holiday in 2022, with Thandwe and Sittwe being the most visited sites, according to data from the Arakan State Directorate of Hotels and Tourism.