From glory to gloom: Bagan’s tourist boom derailed by Myanmar’s ongoing crisis

Bagan, Myanmar's ancient temple city, is facing severe economic hardship as tourism dwindles due to ongoing conflict and the pandemic.

The domes and spires of Myanmar's temple city of Bagan mark an island of calm in the country's raging civil war, but with conflict keeping tourists away locals are struggling to make ends meet. The UNESCO world heritage site on the banks of the Ayeyarwady River became a travel showpiece after decades of military rule were relaxed in 2011. Myanmar became popular with travellers seeking a destination away from the well-trodden backpacker haunts of Southeast Asia.

But the tourism industry was battered by the coronavirus pandemic and then in February 2021 the military seized power again, unleashing conflict across swathes of the country. In the year following the coup around 200,000 international visitors came to Myanmar, according to figures from the junta's tourism ministry. Five years earlier the figure was 3.4 million.

Hundreds of centuries-old Buddhist pagodas rise from the dusty earth around Bagan, once the capital of a regional empire. The 50-square-kilometre (12,355-acre) site is also strewn with stupas, temples, murals and sculptures, some of which date back to the 11th to 13th centuries. But many hotels and restaurants are shuttered, and guides and vendors are out of work. On a hill usually thronged with tourists watching the evening shadows lengthen over the old city, there were as many souvenir vendors as visitors.

"I think people don't want to spend much money and they rarely travel and buy from us," one seller said. “On some days we don't see even a single person.” On the far bank of the Ayeyarwady River the atmosphere is far more worrying, locals told AFP. The area has seen sporadic clashes between the military and pro-democracy "People's Defence Forces", with Bagan residents saying they often hear the sounds of gunfire from across the river. All spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

'Tarnished'

As sanctions bite and the local kyat currency plunges against the dollar, the isolated junta says it wants more international tourists to bring their money to Myanmar. According to an official at the junta's ministry of hotels and tourism, foreign tourist arrivals in 2023 reached over one million, up from around 200,000 the previous year.

Neighbouring Thailand saw about 28 million people visit in the same year. Most arrivals to Myanmar in 2023 were from China and Thailand, according to state media. But in September of that year, the junta lashed out at a blockbuster Chinese film about human trafficking and scam compounds that had "tarnished" Myanmar's reputation.

"No More Bets" tells the story of a computer programmer who is trafficked to an unnamed Southeast Asian country and forced to work as an online scammer for a syndicate. It does not mention Myanmar by name but its setting resembles the country's lawless northern reaches, where China says its citizens are regularly lured or trafficked and forced to work scamming their compatriots. The junta also wants travellers from major ally Russia and has said it is working to allow payments using Mir, Russia's domestic card payments system.

‘People are suffering’

During three days in Bagan AFP reporters did not see a single foreign tourist. One restaurant owner in the city said he was only able to keep half of his staff because of the difficulties. "At least our shop is still running. Many other shops have been closed as they cannot afford rents and staff salaries," he said. "There have been almost no visitors."

"We are not doing okay but at least we still have houses to live in and food to eat," added a flower seller at one of the pagodas. "I can feel how the people living in other areas are suffering. "The only wish I have is that the country and our jobs may improve. That's the wish all the people want to come true."