Tourism operators - from the largest hotels to lowly trishaw drivers - are all feeling the pinch of lower tourist numbers here in Mandalay. Fifty-nine-year-old U Ohn Kyaw is no different. The trishaw driver waits for foreign customers near the Swan Hotel. He says learning and practicing his English is essential to get the lucrative foreign tourists, as he can explain the city’s sights to them.

“I try to get foreign customers because they pay a higher price than local people,” he says, adding that he is now too old to compete with the younger trishaw drivers for the local customers.

Another experienced trishaw driver, 67-year-old U Khin Maung Shwe, agrees there have been very few tourists in Mandalay. Like U Ohn Kyaw, he relies on his English skills to make a living off tourism – for more than 30 years he has been ferrying foreigners around, telling them about Mandalay’s majestic Royal Palace, the local way of life and the weather conditions. And, of course, advertising his daily struggle to make ends meet.

“When they heard my sad story, they would often give me extra cash or other kinds of presents,” says the old man, seated on his trishaw. “But there are now very few foreigners staying in Mandalay... For us trishaw drivers, it is hard to make even K1000 a day,” he says.

But despite the downturn, he says young people often come to him to learn English so they can work in the tourism industry.

“I have many pupils who are seeking a tourism job. They want to learn how to communicate well with foreigners. They want to work in the tourism industry” U Khin Maung Shwe says proudly.

Mr Koichi Tanaka, the operations manager of Mandalay’s Sedona Hotel, says the number of guests in his hotel is down on last year.

“We have about a 10 percent occupancy rate now compared to 25pc at the same time last year. All the bookings were cancelled last September and then cyclone Nargis has made things even more difficult this year,” he said earlier this month.

U Hla Aung, the owner of Mandalay City Hotel, says that the cyclone has severely affected the local tourism industry. “In the aftermath of the cyclone, many tourists from Spain and Italy cancelled their bookings,” he says.

The impact has not been limited to Mandalay’s top-end hotels, which often target package tourists. According to one source in the hotel industry here, all hotels are struggling, many with occupancy rates of just 10 or 15pc.
Mr Tanaka says that rather than wait for guests to return, he has been proactive in trying to attract more business. In June he opened a beer pub at the front of the hotel.

He also organised a charity night at his hotel on June 17, which raised about K6 million for survivors of the natural disasters in Myanmar and China.
Mandalay City Hotel owner U Hla Aung says instead of reducing room rates he has tried to reduce energy costs at his hotel.

“We did not want to reduce the rates because we didn’t want to affect the image of the hotel. Instead, we are trying to save energy... and are now renovating our hotel so it will be more ‘green’ and environmentally friendly. We feel this will be particularly attractive to tourists from Germany. We hope they will come to our hotel in September, which is normally the start of the peak season for tourism.”

U Hla Aung’s hopes for the coming tourist season are shared by those trishaw drivers who depend on the tourists from the hotels for their income. While they wait trishaw drivers like U Khin Muang sit in the shade practicing and perfecting their English skills.

“The high season is still very far away and all we can really do is wait. But while we’re waiting we can also prepare our English so it’s colourful and practice our presentations to tourists.” he says. And the new presentation for tourists this year? Cyclone Nargis, of course.