Myanmar recorded a total of 903,000 tourists in 2020, ranking 102nd in the world in absolute terms.
Without including the size of a country, such a ranking list may not be very meaningful. By putting the tourist numbers in relation to the population of Myanmar, the result is much more comparable picture: With 0.017 tourists per resident, Myanmar ranked 176th in the world. In Southeast Asia, it ranked 9th.
In 2019, Myanmar generated around 2.50 billion US dollars in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 3.8 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 2 percent of all international tourism receipts in Southeast Asia.
On average, each of the tourists arriving in 2019 spent about 485 US dollars.
Development of the tourism sector in Myanmar from 1995 to 2020
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Myanmar each year. Anyone who spends at least one night in the country but does not live there for more than 12 months is considered a tourist. Insofar as the survey included the purpose of the trip, business trips and other non-tourism travel purposes have already been excluded. The number of people passing through within the same day, and e.g., crew members of ships or flights are also not considered tourists in most countries. If the same person travels in and out more than once within the same year, each visit counts again.
Data in the chart are given in millions of tourists. The red line represents the average of all 11 countries in Southeast Asia.
Revenues from tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 169.00 million USD, or about 3.5 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 194,000 tourists at that time and roughly 871 USD per person. Within 24 years, the country's dependence on tourism has increased slightly. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales were $2.50 billion billion, 3.6 percent of gross national product. Thus, each visitor spent an average of $573 on their vacation in Myanmar.
Full figures for 2020, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, are not currently available. However, national and international travel has been restricted worldwide, and some countries have even been closed off from the outside world altogether. Dramatic revenue losses are expected, with some countries experiencing losses of up to more than 80%.
All data for Myanmar in detail
Year
Number of tourists
Receipts
% of GNP
Receipts per tourist
2020
903,000
2019
4.36 m
2.50 bn $
3.6 %
573 $
2018
3.55 m
1.67 bn $
2.5 %
470 $
2017
3.44 m
1.99 bn $
3.2 %
577 $
2016
2.91 m
2.29 bn $
3.8 %
787 $
2015
4.68 m
2.20 bn $
3.5 %
470 $
2014
3.08 m
1.69 bn $
2.7 %
548 $
2013
2.04 m
964.00 m $
1.6 %
472 $
2012
1.06 m
550.00 m $
0.94 %
519 $
2011
816,000
334.00 m $
0.62 %
409 $
2010
792,000
91.00 m $
0.24 %
115 $
2009
763,000
75.00 m $
0.25 %
98 $
2008
731,000
80.00 m $
0.35 %
109 $
2007
716,000
97.00 m $
0.62 %
135 $
2006
630,000
59.00 m $
0.50 %
94 $
2005
660,000
83.00 m $
0.78 %
126 $
2004
657,000
97.00 m $
1.0 %
148 $
2003
597,000
70.00 m $
0.90 %
117 $
2002
487,000
136.00 m $
2.2 %
279 $
2001
475,000
132.00 m $
2.1 %
278 $
2000
416,000
195.00 m $
2.8 %
469 $
1999
435,000
222.00 m $
3.9 %
510 $
1998
478,000
196.00 m $
4.2 %
410 $
1997
491,000
183.00 m $
3.2 %
373 $
1996
490,000
215.00 m $
3.7 %
439 $
1995
194,000
169.00 m $
3.5 %
871 $
Our data on tourist numbers, revenues and expenditures are based on information from the World Tourism Organization. However, to ensure international comparability, the data for some years or countries were manually researched and corrected if they obviously included visitors without overnight stays. In these cases, the data were taken from the official communications of the respective national tourism authorities.
The World Tourism Organization additionally points out that in some countries, the number of tourists is only counted at airports, while in others they are also counted at border crossings or even hotels. A comprehensive and reliable indication is therefore hardly possible in any country.
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