Phase 2 of KepLand's Sedona Hotel Yangon to be completed by 2016

New hotel wing to cost around US$80m.

According to a release, travellers to Yangon can soon look forward to more quality hotel rooms when phase two of Sedona Hotel Yangon is fully completed in 2016.

Keppel Land broke ground for the new 29-storey hotel wing in a ceremony last 22 October in the presence of His Excellency U Hla Myint, Mayor of Yangon City.

The event was witnessed by His Excellency Mr Robert Chua, Singapore Ambassador to Myanmar; His Excellency Dr Tin Shwe, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Hotels & Tourism; Mr Ang Wee Gee, CEO of Keppel Land; officials of the Yangon Regional Government; and business associates.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Ang said, "The opening up of Myanmar has seen the number of visitors, both corporate and leisure travellers, to the country increase significantly in the last three years.

The upgrading and extension of Sedona Hotel Yangon is timely to meet the corresponding rise in demand for quality hotel rooms, which is currently in short supply in Yangon."

In the first eight months of 2013, local authorities reported that Myanmar has already received more than one million foreign visitors, about 60% higher than the same period last year. Tourist arrivals are forecasted to reach between 1.8 and 2 million by end-2013, almost double that for the whole of 2012.

Sedona Hotel Yangon is part of only a handful of international-grade five-star hotels in Myanmar. Phase one of the hotel was completed in 1997 and comprises 366 rooms. The hotel has established itself as the accommodation of choice for business and leisure travellers alike.

Phase two of the development will see an addition of about 420 rooms, bringing the hotel's total room capacity to 786.

At 29 storeys tall, the new tower block will be one of the tallest structures in Yangon when completed in end-2015. The total development cost for the new hotel wing is about US$80 million, and when completed, will be fully integrated with the existing Sedona Hotel Yangon.