For the convenience of the travellers to Putao, Kachin State, with its icy mountains, tour packages are being arranged to suit their available time, said Ko Moe Min Thein (Putao), a tour operator for the trips, including icy mountain climbing journeys.
“We have to rely on airlines to visit Putao. Now, there is only one flight from Yangon on Saturday. The Yangon-Mandalay-Myitkyina-Putao flight only runs once a week. There is another flight from Mandalay on Wednesday. As the visitor are mostly from Yangon, there is a problem of flight availability and the actual arrivals are not as many as expected despite the growing interest among travellers,” he said.
Therefore, they now have to organize icy mountain climbing trips just in time with the flight departure date for the convenience of travellers.
“Right now, we plan the trip based on flight departure date. If the guests arrive on Saturday, they can start climbing from Putao on Sunday and arrive back in Putao on Friday to catch the Saturday flight. If it is a day late, they will have to wait the whole week for the next Saturday flight and that is not convenient. So, we have to make tight schedules within a week,” he said.
Despite many enquiries from people interested in Putao icy mountain climbing trip, the number of actual visitors is moderate due to the flight difficulty, he added.
MT/ZN
