Clia Asia Forum: Myanmar Rohingya crisis sees sales fall, admits Pandaw

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has received widespread condemnation from across the geo-political landscape, including the United Nations, over its treatment of the minority Muslim group with its military operations branded by some humanitarian organisations as “ethnic cleansing”.

Since August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled predominantly Buddhist Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh as a result of a military counter-insurgency campaign by the government.

Speaking to delegates at Clia’s Asia River Cruise & Destination Forum in Vietnam yesterday (April 10), Marco Rosa, vice-president of sales and marketing at Pandaw, admitted the river line’s Myanmar business from the UK market had been “definitely affected” by the situation.

When asked about the impact of the crisis on the Asia specialist’s British sales Rosa told delegates Pandaw had experienced “a very slow period” from October to December last year.

“Is it business as usual? The answer is no,” he said.

“Clearly the political situation is having an effect. I would say it is dependent on which market. The UK market is definitely affected together with the US. We have not seen a significant drop for example in Australia and for other European markets.

“Generally now it has picked up a lot [but] compare the business, it is definitely down specifically for Myanmar.”

Speaking later to TTG, Rosa stressed that Pandaw would not look to reduce capacity in the country or remove its programme for the UK market due to the economic impact such as move would have upon tourism-reliant locals, adding that he believed demand would return.

“It is not a case of supporting the government,” he said. “We are supporting the locals. You can’t punish the local people who rely on the income [by stopping operations].

“We wouldn’t be spending tonnes of money on a marketing campaign for the UK [to promote Myanmar sailings] there would be no point at the moment, but interest will come back but we have got very good margin elsewhere.”

Discussing Pandaw’s other operations across Asia, Rosa revealed that demand for the line’s upcoming third ship in Laos, the RV Sabei Pandaw, had been “crazy”.

He said the first current availability for the ship – due to launch in November – was for December 2019.

“People are getting more and more curious [for the destination]. It can be quite pricey so when you can have what we are offering it is good value for money."