YANGON, 23 January 2018: A Myanmar travel agency, Beyond Boundaries, will re-launch free Yangon walk tours that showcase the history of downtown Yangon from the pre-colonial period to modern day Yangon.
The popular tours were set up by Australian Gino Joseph and continued until October 2016 when operations stopped due to logistic challenges.
Joseph moved back to Australia bringing the free tours to an end. They apparently attracted as many as 20 tourists and Yangon enthusiasts on some days.
Beyond Boundaries has taken over the walks reinstating them, earlier this month, on Wednesdays and Sundays departing at 1500 from a meeting point right opposite Yangon City Hall.
Unlike most guided tours there is no set price for the two departures. People are free to donate whatever they may think the tour was worth to them.
On the other days of the week, Beyond Boundaries will run the same tour at 0900 from the same location, but through an online pre-booked system with a tour price of USD10 per person.
Apart from small group tours, the company also organises private walks on request.
“We are happy to be able to continue these free walking tours as the feedback on TripAdvisor and Facebook from people who joined the tour was fantastic,” said Beyond Boundaries managing director, Mya Nandar Aung.
“We hope to show visitors that a guided tour today must offer so much more in-depth knowledge on the country, which ensures the tour is worth the price paid as it offers an experience that make a visit to Myanmar so special.”
The Yangon walking tour takes about two hours and is conducted by a professional English speaking tourist guide who tells the stories behind the facades of the historical buildings and gives some tips on what else to do while visiting Myanmar.
Beyond Boundaries website also offers tours that can be booked directly on line and focus on what is known as “flash backers”.
Mya Nandar describes them as “travellers who often prefer some freedom when travelling around and have booked their Yangon hotel online, but are searching for real experiences and want to avoid falling into the standard tourist trails that everybody follows.”
The company also offers multiple day, private tours from Yangon to the northern part of Shan state.
The re-launch of Yangon Free Walks comes at a time when travel professionals in Myanmar’s travel industry estimate that the majority of tourists have not pre-booked a guided tour for their holiday.
