16 June
NEARLY 600 tourists visited Mogok, which is famous for Myanmar’s gemstones, from January to May 2019, accord-ing to official statistics from the Directorate of Hotels and Tourism.
Mogok has been known since ancient times for its gemstones, especially rubies and sapphires. Tourists are in-terested to learn more about the gemstones, as well as local traditions and culture.
“Barnet village is inhabited by Lisu ethnics. This village is a land of ice. The local villagers build their village in imitation of Korean villages.
Most of the tourists visit-ed Htar Mart, which is a gem-stones market,” said DawPhyu Phyu Myint, chairman of the Mogok Htar Market Gem Trad-ers’ Association.
A total of 599 tourists vis-ited Mogok region in 2019, including 105 tourists in Jan-uary, 156 tourists in February, 146 tourists in March, 72 tour-ists in April and 120 tourists in May.
Moreover, 490 tourists vis-ited Mogok region in 2018, in-cluding 42 tourists from 10 to 30 September, 93 tourists in Oc-tober, 235 tourists in November and 120 tourists in December.
Authorities previously sus-pended tourists’ visits to Mogok region.
However, tourists were again permitted to visit Mogok on 10 September 2018 via the Mandalay-Thabeikkyin-Mogok route.—Khin Satt Wai (Translated by Hay Mar)
