Myanmar’s ministry of hotel and tourism blacklisted 179 tour companies this month for failing to renew their licenses after a six months grace period expired.
The ministry’s policy requires all companies to renew licenses twice a year and costs K200,000 (US$146.34) per tour operator, the Myanmar Times reported.
Applications can be made via the ministry website for inbound and outbound tour operator licenses.
"We gave extra months, at least six months, for them to renew their licenses but they didn’t come. That is why we deleted their licenses from the list of companies registered with the ministry," said U Myo Win Nyut, director of the ministry of hotel and tourism.
That leaves 2,508 legally registered tours companies in the country, the ministry said.
The ministry expects a total of 3.5 million tourists this year, after recording 3.1 million travellers from January to November 2017.
