The Destination Management Plan (DMP) for the Inlay Lake Region is the result of extensive stakeholder consultations, interviews, focus group discussions, workshops and expert analysis of a region stretching from Ywangan Township of the Danu Self-‐Administered Zone in the north to Loikaw City in the south; from Kalaw in the west, to Hopong Township of the Pa-‐O Self Administered Zone in the east. The region covers over 19,000 square kilometres (7,340 square miles) and is home to an estimated 1.4 million people.
The DMP provides a situational analysis of the current tourism situation in Myanmar and how this links to the Inlay Lake Region, provides a summary of the environmental issues, provides a strategic direction for sustainable tourism development and the “visitor economy” and provides key action points required to achieve a world-‐class tourism destination. The region will certainly be the target of donor, government and private sector funded development projects: this DMP provides a framework for funding activities that are based upon research and the wishes and needs of local communities, business, government, community organisations and the natural environment.
Most importantly the DMP presents a means for the people of the Inlay Lake Region to have their say on how they would like to see tourism develop in their homelands, whilst addressing the needs of the tourism industry in order to create a sustainable tourism destination that is a “great place to visit, work and live”.