The September move has effected travellers with pre-arranged plans to visit the country in November and December, said U Hnaung Hnaung Han, who used statistics from travel agencies to support his claim.

Myanmar Tourism Entrepreneurs Association say they have urged the Ministry of Immigration and Population and the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism to quickly resolve the issue.

“Tour packages have been arranged in advance with foreign tour operators, plans were created with the pre-arranged visa in mind. If the government keep changing their policies this can spoil the image of our nation,” said U Hnaung Hnaung Han.

U Aung Myat Kyaw, chairman of the Myanmar Tourism Entrepreneurs Association told Mizzima the quick change over, with the introduction of the e-visa on August 1 and the ending of the pre-arranged visa a month later caused chaos for tour operators who often create plans over six-months in advance.

Mr Curtis Fox, of Destination Asia, told Mizzima, that the e-visa only being available to tourists arriving in Yangon was just one of the problems, his customers were facing.

“Arrivals in Mandalay and overland are made trickier,” said Mr Fox, “but difficulties are particularly faced by visitors from countries such as South Africa, who are not on the list of nationalities approved for e-visas.”

“Those who are not approved for e-visa have to apply at their local embassy, and of course many of the countries who are not on the list, do not have a Myanmar embassy in their home country,” said Mr Fox.

“The application website appears to have been updated now, but I had heard of issues of eligible tourists applying online, only to be turned down with no explanation and no refund, this has caused people to be wary of the system,” added Mr Fox.

When the e-visa was first rolled out, 43 countries were granted eligibility, 24 additional nations were added on 2nd October.