Tourist numbers at the popular Chaung Thar beach in Chaung Thar Town, Ayeyarwady Region have significantly dropped since fighting broke out near the neighbouring town of Shwethaungyan on 8 January 2025.
Tourists have been deterred from visiting Chaung Thar beach by heavy ongoing fighting between the junta and the Arakan Army (AA) in the area of Shwethaungyan Town in Pathein Township, about 13km from Chaung Thar Town which is also in Pathein Township.
As recently as Christmas 2024 tens of thousands of tourists visited Chaung Thar beach, but now, a month later, tourist numbers have dropped so much that some hotels there have had to close.
Some hotels have also sent expensive furniture and other valuable items to Yangon to make sure they do not get destroyed or stolen if fighting reaches Chaung Thar.
A source close to the Chaung Thar hotel businesses said to DMG: "There are no vendors left along the beach, and many residents of Chaung Thar have already evacuated to Pathein and Yangon. Shwethaungyan and Chaung Thar are neighbouring towns, so the fighting could reach Chaung Thar at any moment.”
But, junta -appointed administrative authorities are putting pressure on closed hotels to reopen and are threatening to confiscate hotels that do not reopen, according to an officer from the Pathein Township People's Defence Force (PDF).
He said to DMG: "“The junta wants to portray Chaung Thar as operating normally. That’s why its administrators are forcing hotels, guesthouses, and shops to reopen. However, in reality, many locals have already evacuated to Yangon, leaving only a few people in the town.”
Following the taking of Bawmi Village near to Shwethaungyan Town by an AA-led resistance coalition on 18 January, junta soldiers have regrouped in Shwethaungyan Town where they are setting up defences.
The junta army and navy are also in and around Chaung Thar Town where they are setting up defences, which has made the town’s residents nervous and caused many to evacuate.
A person displaced from Arakan (Rakhine) State by fighting who is currently sheltering in Chaung Thar Town said: “The junta has ordered the army and navy to fortify positions in Chaung Thar and prepare to defend [the town]. Junta troops injured in the clashes in Shwethaungyan are being transported to Chaung Thar for treatment, while the seriously wounded are being sent to Pathein. Many residents of Chaung Thar have already evacuated.”
On 20 January the AA announced that fighting was ongoing in an area known as Point 369 Hill, on the border between Arakan State and Ayeyarwady Region, and in the area of Chinsu Village in Yegyi Township, Ayeyarwady Region.
