Preparations

I spent the first few days in Yangon – trying to collect as many contacts and information possible before departing for ‘The Field’ – Ngwe Saung, located six hours west of Yangon.

Hosana and I with the Ngwe Saung Hoteliers Association in Yangon

I met Hosana for the first time – who was nice (crazy?) enough to agree to accompany me the entire time in Ngwe Saung and assist with the research.  In Yangon, we went over the survey I had prepared with approval from my professors, and helped translate it into Burmese, clarifying the portions that didn’t make sense with translation.  

Hosana and I also went to several meetings with travel agencies and programs to better understand the travel and tourism business in Myanmar, where it was headed, what the challenges were, and what some of the successes had been.  The most interesting of these meetings however, was when we had the opportunity to meet the Ngwe Saung Hoteliers Association – which was a room filled of over twenty people, who owned the 17 resorts in Ngwe Saung.  While I don’t want to give too much away from the research, it was an incredible meeting that shed light on some of the positive and negative impacts of tourism, and how business for these hotel owners was doing in Ngwe Saung.

Hosana and I left the room a little skeptical however, wondering if the local people would have the same positive impact that these hotel owners had highlighted.  Leaving that meeting, I was itching to get to Ngwe Saung and see it for myself!