Monday, February 24, 2014

Dawei headed for ecotourism

Weekly Eleven Published on Monday, 24 February 2014
DAWEI—Tourism firms in Dawei Township are aiming to develop as viable ecotourism businesses in order to protect the ecology of their region.

Since 2012, Dawei has become a tourist destination while also experiencing an influx of business tourists who come to study a mega deep-sea port project there.

The Italian Thai Development’s project here attracted international attention because of its size and strategic location in the Taninthari Region of lower Myanmar.



“Many tourists [to Dawei] are on business. We are headed for ecotourism here because other businesses may damage the ecology. By doing ecotourism, our tourists will reach new places and the environment is also protected,” said Htein Lin from the Dawei Tourism Company.

“I ask the tourists why they visit Dawei. They say Dawei is different from other places. It has green forests and mountains. It is spacious and uncrowded. The weather is not like that of Switzerland and Holland. Our climate is temperate, while it is very cold there,” he added.
In Dawei, besides the deep-sea port project site, tourists usually go to Maungmakan Beach, ancient pagodas and other historical places. There are five hotels with 179 rooms, according to last year’s statistics.

“Tourism businesses in Dawei asked us to offer some training on tourism. Some of our tourism companies in Yangon will go and train them,” said Aye Kyaw, managing director of Ruby Land Tourism Company.

Many of the tourists visiting Dawei Township are Japanese and Thai nationals. There are also some Chinese and European tourists there.