Call for transparency in Myanmar's tourism industry

The tourist season is in full swing in the southeast Asian nation of Myanmar, with a record number of travellers visiting the country.

Ancient pagodas at Bagan, Myanmar.

The tourist season is in full swing in the southeast Asian nation of Myanmar, with a record number of travellers visiting the country, once known as Burma.

Myanmar's move from pariah state to a quasi-civilian government in 2011 has seen a boom in tourists keen to visit a country that was once closed off under decades of military rule.

Myanmar's government says more than three million visitors arrived in 2013, with about 2.7 per cent of that figure, Australian tourists.

As visitor numbers swell, Myanmar's Ministry of Hotels and Tourism says, so do the economic benefits.

But there are concerns those benefits are not being equally felt among the country's poorest.

Manny Maung reports from the capital, Yangon.

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