An increase in tourism to Myanmar is pushing up direct foreign investment in the country's hotel sector. FDI has reportedly reached $2.7 billion. While, last week, Melia and Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group announced a partnership on the Melia Yangon, part of the $550-million HAGL Myanmar Centre project. According to an article in Travel Agent Central, there are 47 hotels invested in by foreign investors with overseas investors pouring more than $8 billion into the country, more than half that figure, $4.3 billion, has come from Singapore. Investment in the Tourism industry has created over 150,000 jobs..
The Myanmar Investment Commission aimed to attract $5 billion in FDI last year by also promoting the manufacturing sector to create more jobs. The article quotesU Aung Naing Oo, secretary of the Myanmar Investment Commission, saying “I think investors are becoming more confident in investing in the country as our economic prospects improve under a strong legal infrastructure. We have made many bilateral agreements with the United States, Japan and European Union members,”
Hotel investment is largely coming from the Asia Pacific, including Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan and Malaysia. The UK, Luxemburg and the UAE are also players in this relatively still untapped market.
Myanmar investment in the sector was a reported $55 million in 2011 and the amount increased heavily to $553 million in 2014. Investment by local and foreign investors in the sector is expected to top US$3 billion in 2015. Myanmar received 3.5 million visitors and generated more than $1 billion last year.