The reason for this, according to the ministry announcement, is to check these tourists arriving on “Myanmar visa on arrival” with the lists of foreigners who are blacklisted by the immigration department. Those on the list of black listed foreigners will not get the arrival visa at the Yangon Airport and will be turned back, so tour and travel companies should not handle arrival visa to those foreigners whose status they cannot guarantee, said the ministry announcement.
Such a reporting to the immigration department was never done in the past, said one tour company to the Rangoon based The Voice Weekly journal, according to the journal report.
The order also said that the ‘Arrival Visa’ system has been introduced in order to make travelling to Burma easier and to provide maximum service to tourists. It is also to check that tour companies do not charge tourists extra for their services and prevent the companies from evading tax payment to the government, which is seven per cent.
“Tour agencies must understand that a country has the right to reject or welcome particular tourists, without giving any reason,” the order adds.
Apart from advanced reporting by the tour companies, other regulations concerning the foreign tourists remained the same, said the ministry announcement.
Source: The Voice Weekly Journal, Mizzima News