The Directorate of Investment and Company Administartion (DICA) confirmed that an Italian company was granted permission to develop a hotel project that will be worth US$3.2million in Tanintharyi Region’s Kawthoung district.
This will be a joint venture between Myanmar Green Centuru and a local company according to DICA’s director u Kyaw Win Tun.A hotel across 6.8 hectares of land on Kyun Mei Gyi island in Bokepyin township will be built by Myanmar Green Century.
U Aung Tun Lin, chair of the Myanmar Tourist Guides Association said that there was no investment from Italy for a long time and now Italy was preparing to re-enter Mynamar’s tourism industry which was a good sign for the tourism businesses.He added that Kawthoung was not a popular spot for Italians in the past.
The Italians are showing more interest in Myanmar Tourism and last year Milan based Neos Spa, an Italian airline started Boeing 767 flights to Myanmar, it became the first airline to fly from Europe to the country.
The flight which operates once a week stops over in Phu Quoc, Vietnam before getting landed at Yangon International Airport.
During the seven months between January and July about 9690 travellers from Italy visited Myanmar . This was up by 22 percent from the same period last year.
The Myanmar Investment Commission has granted permission to operate hotels in Kawthoung but it has still not submitted details on the developments.
Kawthoung was earlier known as the Victoria Point is the southernmost point in Myanmar. It is the starting point for all Myanmar-based cruises and day trips to Myeik Archipelago,a popular diving destination which has more than 300,000 tourists per year.
Nacleod Island, Tha Ye Island , Cock Comb Island, Lampi Island, Nyanung Oo Phee island, Hlaing Gu Island, Done Waterwall and Bo Cho island are popular with tourists.
