Plans Unveiled for Myanmar River Cruises by October 2014

[HostDave]

AmaWaterways has announced plans for more river cruising itineraries outside of Europe. At a media reception aboard AmaPrima, AmaWaterways CEO Rudi Schreiner said his company plans to enter the Myanmar (Burma) river cruise market with a new-build riverboat set to debut in October 2014.

The new vessel, named the AmaPura, will carry 56 passengers on the Irawaddy River, the so-called “road to Mandalay," with itineraries including Yangon, Myanmar’s former capital (also known as Rangoon) and Mandalay. AmaWaterways is working with with a partner in Myanmar to develop the new ship.

The Myanmar river cruise market includes two vessels from Orient-Express, the 82-passenger Road to Mandalay and 50-passenger Orcaella; Viking River Cruises’ 60-passenger Viking Mandalay; and one planned entry from Sanctuary Retreats, a division of Abercrombie & Kent, the 48-passenger Sanctuary Ananda. Myanmar opened up substantially for tourism last year when the country’s military agreed to democratic elections and an end to political repression.

AmaWaterways’ main river cruise market continues to be Europe, with sailings on the Danube, Main, Rhine, Mosel, Seine, Rhone and Douro rivers, as well as Dutch and Belgian waterways. But the company also offers river cruises in Russia on the Volga River and Baltic waterway; in Vietnam and Cambodia on the Mekong River; and in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe on the Chobe River.