- Myanmar to allow tourists through Kayin border
- Peninsula group to open hotel in Yangon
- French firm to invest in Myanmar’s tourism industry
- Japanese business travellers flock to Myanmar
- Tourists to Inle region surge 50 percent
- Inle floating market nearly disappearing
- Mandalay to build 20 hotels providing over 1400 rooms
- More passports issued in this summer
- Myanmar starts online tour guide services
- Discovering traditional water festival in Myanmar
Tour guides should protect Bagan's cultural heritage
Published on Friday, 01 February 2013 21:09
Local pilgrims and a group of tourists seen infront of Began temples (Photo-Ko Naw)
Local residents and government officials are urging Myanmar tour guides to be more sensitive to national culture and set good examples to foreign visitors, especially when visiting Buddhist temples.
"On the Full Moon Day of Pyartho (January 26), I saw a group of foreigners watching the monks on the eastern platform of the Ananda Temple while wearing shoes….The problem is that the tour guide was also wearing shoes. Other tourists have taken off their shoes. Even the beggar who came to beg for money was not wearing any shoes. The tourist guides should be considerate," said one local resident.
As Myanmar is a Buddhist country, visitors must remove footwear and socks when visiting pagodas, temples, and monasteries.
The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism has issued a Dos and Don’ts booklet containing 30 guidelines for tour guides to have good practices in the tourist industry.