Hotel Okura announced that it will open The Okura Prestige Yangon, the first Okura Hotels & Resorts member hotel to operate in Myanmar, in 2020, It will be situated within a large commercial complex, including office buildings and retail facilities, to be constructed on the site of the former Defense Services Museum.

For the operation and management of The Okura Prestige Yangon, Hotel Okura expects to sign a contract in August with a local alliance comprising Fujita Corporation, Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd., Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport & Urban Development and Yangon Technical & Trading Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Ayeyar Hinthar Holdings Co., Ltd.

The Okura Prestige Yangon will be a luxury hotel offering approximately 390 rooms in downtown Yangon, a short walk from Yangon Central Railway Station and a short drive from the historic Shwedagon Pagoda. 

Toshihiro Ogita, president of Hotel Okura Co., Ltd. said, “It is a true honor for Hotel Okura to take part in this large development project, the first investment permit under the new Myanmar Investment Law, thanks to a coordinated effort by Japan’s public and private sectors, as well as the local partner. We will leverage Hotel Okura’s experience and expertise in traditional Japanese hospitality to create a much-beloved hotel for the people of Myanmar, aiming to become the country’s most well received hotel. Including The Okura Prestige Yangon, we are keen to add three to five more hotels in Myanmar in the next five years.”

The new hotel will offer banquet halls, conference rooms and diverse dining options, including an all-day dining area, a Japanese restaurant and a lounge bar.

The hotel will also feature an executive lounge with views of the golden-domed Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar’s most celebrated Buddhist pagoda.

Myanmar, since shifting toward civilian democracy, has enjoyed GDP growth averaging at around 7% per annum. Inbound investment from Japan, Europe and the United States is projected to rise steadily.

Hotel Okura’s inaugural Myanmar property is part of an ambitious undertaking to expand the group’s global portfolio to 100 properties, primarily in Asia, by 2020. Okura Nikko Hotel Management, a subsidiary of Hotel Okura, currently has seven properties in the pipeline outside Japan, now counting The Okura Prestige Yangon. These include four Okura Hotels & Resorts properties opening in Cappadocia in 2018 and Manila, Phnom Penh and Saigon in 2020, and two Nikko Hotels International properties opening in Bangkok in 2018 and Hai Phong in 2020.