Hot-air balloon rides have long been a staple of the tourist experience at Bagan, and operators, charging hundreds of dollars per flight, have enjoyed relative freedom.
Now, the government is in talks to regulate airspace in the area, after the Ministry of Culture called on operators to stop flying low over the centuries-old ancient site.
It’s not because of the risk to humans – there have been no accidents in the past decade – but rather the threat to the pagodas, the Myanmar Times reported.
“The bud-like ornament above the vane of the pagoda could be damaged by a balloon flying low above it, as customers sometimes request,” U Thein Lwin, deputy director general of the Department of Archaelogy, National Museum and Library, was quoted as saying.
“That’s why we prefer to set patterns that do not pass over the pagodas,” he added.
His department has sent an official request to the President’s Office but received no reply, he said.
The result of discussions between the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, the Ministry of Culture, the Department of Civil Aviation and the balloon operators over regulations are scheduled to be announced ahead of the high season, according to the Times.
The Ministry of Culture said earlier this year it would punish hotels built illegally within the historic complex.
Photo / Wikicommons / Christopher Michel
