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ITC project in Myanmar’s Kayah State wins international award for community-based tourism

26 January 2017
ITC News

An ITC project promoting inclusive tourism in Myanmar’s Kayah State was recognized with an award at the
ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) in Singapore last week.

The 36th annual conference, which seeks to promote the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region as a single, multi-faceted tourist destination, concluded on 20 January with the “ASEAN Homestay and Community-Based Award (CBT)” ceremony. ITC’s “NTF III Inclusive Tourism focusing on Kayah state” project was awarded one of three prizes for Myanmar in the category.

Part of the Netherlands Trust Fund (NTF) III portfolio of projects funded by the Netherlands government’s Centre for the promotion of imports from developing countries (CBI), the Kayah State project works along the tourism value chain, from product and service development in Kayah Sate to market linkages and marketing, collaborating with national and state governments, tourism associations and the private sector. ITC has developed several community based programs and creative tourism activities in Kayah state, resulting in a significant increase both in international tourist arrivals and in incomes for local tourism and service providers. The project is slated to run through June 2017.

The award was received by the ITC National Project Coordinator in the presence of representatives of key project counterparts the Myanmar Ministry of Hotels and Tourism (MOHT), Union of Myanmar Travel Association (UMTA) and Myanmar Tourism Marketing (MTM).