Tranquil Ngwe Saung beach awaits high-season crowds. Pic: Zaw Win Than

HOTELIERS in Ngwe Saung should focus on promoting the beach as a vacation destination rather than publicising their individual hotels, the deputy minister of Hotels and Tourism, Brigadier General Aye Myint Kyu, said last month.

“When the beach was opened in 2002, visitors complained there were not enough facilities there and they said the road to the beach was not in good condition,” Brig Gen Aye Myint Kyu said at the annual meeting of the Ngwe Saung Zone Hotelier Association at Yuzana Hotel in Yangon on August 21.

“But today the road is good and most of the hotels at the beach are international standard. They have a good reputation locally and abroad. Now we need to promote the name of Ngwe Saung beach so more people are aware that it is a world-class beach,” he said.

Ngwe Saung is located on the west coast of Ayeyarwady Division about 48 kilometres (30 miles) from Pathein and 233 kilometres (144 miles) from Yangon. There are 21 hotels with a total of about 800 rooms along the seven-kilometre (4.5-mile) stretch of coastline.

Plans are underway to develop another seven-kilometre stretch of beach and to build an airport in the area.

But one businessman who visits Ngwe Saung frequently said he had doubts about the need for an airport.

“There is an airport in Pathein that has been upgraded recently. The one-hour drive to the beach is not really a burden for visitors,” he said. “Actually, the road to the beach can also be an attraction for visitors, especially foreign tourists, who can enjoy the scenery on the way.”

He also said the sound of airplanes flying overhead would disturb the peace at the beach.

U Hla Maung Shwe, the chairman of the Ngwe Saung Zone Hotelier Association, said the organisation was drafting development plans based on a seminar on tourism development at the beach held at the Bay of Bengal Hotel on May 5.

“The association will provide information to hotel owners for the development of the beach as well as for their business,” he said. “We also plan to publish a map of the beach and surrounding area, and open an information centre for visitors at the entrance to the beach.”

He said the association also plans to hold courses on human resources develop-ment for hotels and is working on improving the local water distribution system.

Meanwhile, hoteliers in Ngwe Saung beach said last month they were taking steps to protect their hotels and guests from possible dangers posed by tsunamis.

“Tsunamis are rare occurrences. We might see the next one 20 years from now or we might not; nobody can guess. But we have to prepare to make sure everyone is ready and safe if it does happen,” said U Hla Maung Shwe.

He said the association is in discussions with the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology on how to arrange a tsunami warning system.

“We think the best solution would be a system where the department can alert us in the event of an earthquake that has the potential to cause a tsunami,” he said. “The department has a 24-hour earthquake observation station so they should be able to inform us.”

He said the association would then alert the hotels along the beach about the potential for a tsunami.

“As modern communi-cation technology is installed at Ngwe Saung we will be able to receive and transmit the news instantaneously,” he said.

U Hla Maung Shwe said waves from a tsunami similar to the one that occurred in December 2004 could take about two hours to reach Myanmar.

“Not every earthquake on the ocean floor triggers a tsunami but we can know right away if one of magnitude 6.0 (on the Richter scale) or bigger occurs,” he said.

U Hla Maung Shwe said the association also plans to produce handouts with guidelines on what to do in the event of a disaster, which will be placed in every hotel room in Ngwe Saung.

Instructions might include what to do when the disaster alarm sounds, where to run and what to do if a tsunami hits the beach.

“The handouts will instruct hotel guests on how to reach higher ground in the event of a tsunami, which will save lives,” U Hla Maung Shwe said.

On December 26, 2004, an earthquake in the Indian Ocean off the western coast of northern Sumatra resulted in a series of tsunamis that pounded the coastlines of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and other countries with waves up to 30 metres (100 feet).

Accoring to the United Nations, a total of 229,866 people were lost in the disaster, including 186,983 dead and 42,883 missing.

The monster waves had little effect on Myanmar due to the numerous islands off the coast, which served to dissipate the force of the tsunami, a rocky shoreline and the position of the coastline.