Thingyan visitors prompt shopkeepers to lift their shutters at Ngapali Beach

By DMG 22 Apr 2021

DMG Newsroom
22 April 2021, Thandwe 

With an uptick in visitors to Thandwe Township’s Ngapali Beach due to the Thingyan holiday, some shops have reopened after months shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Shopkeeper Ko Kyaw Kyaw said the recent trendline was a welcome change for a local economy heavily reliant on tourism — and decimated by coronavirus-related travel and public health restrictions. 

“There have been customers since before Thingyan. For more than a year, we were not able to run our shops and had to do odd jobs. Annually, the beach is crowded at this time of year. The business is good,” he said. 

Because the beach receives few visitors during the rainy season, shopkeepers rely on what they have earned in the high season to get them through the monsoon business downturn, Ko Kyaw Kyaw added. 

Thingyan, also known as the Myanmar New Year, traditionally signals the seasonal transition from hot, dry weather to almost daily monsoon rains.  

For months, local small business owners have struggled to make ends meet as they suspended operations during much of the COVID-19 pandemic, said shopkeeper Daw Khin Khin Shwe.  

Business will pick up further if more hotels resume operations at Ngapali Beach, she said.  

Hoteliers, store owners and souvenir vendors alike have faced livelihood difficulties as travellers to Arakan State’s premier seaside destination have dwindled amid the pandemic. 

Most visitors to Ngapali Beach during Thingyan were Arakan State residents, with the political turmoil across much of the country markedly limiting travellers from farther afield.