YANGON, Mar 23 (NNN-MNA) – Myanmar’s well-known archaeological sites will be opened to visitors, during the country’s water festival next month, Director of the Archaeology and National Museum department, U Aung Aung Kyaw, said yesterday.
The archaeological zones are Bagan, Pinya and Inwa sites, in Mandalay Region, Mrauk U in Rakhine State, Pyu archaeological zones (Beikthano, Hanlin and Sri Ksetra) and Bago Region. However the museums in such places will close during the festival on Apr 13-17.
“We will open these sites to visitors who want to visit during the water festival. The total number of visitors declined, because there were COVID-19 restrictions for visitors during the past three years, but more visitors are coming this year,” the official said.
He added that, security plans for visitors are arranged by respective government departments at these sites. Myanmar International TV reported yesterday that, over 400,000 foreign tourists visited the archaeological sites in 2017-2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the country, total international arrivals surged by about 214 percent in Jan, year-on-year, official data showed. Myanmar welcomed 233,487 foreign visitors last year.– NNN-MNA
