YANGON, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's Yangon International Airport attracted over 1.14 million tourists in the whole 2018.

According to the report on the Yangon Region Government's third year tenure on Wednesday, the authorities permitted 11 hotels to operate in Yangon region and granted 299 travel agencies, issuing 145 tour guide licenses and 162 transport licenses last year.

Myanmar received 3.55 million tourists in 2018 and the number is likely to grow in 2019. Tourist arrivals across the country reached 1.136 million in the first three months of 2019, an increase of 208,162 or 22.4 percent compared to the same period of 2018.

The significant increase of the tourist arrivals during the period was attributed to the large amount of tourists from Asian countries such as China, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, India and Malaysia.

Foreign tourists visit Myanmar mainly through three international airports -- Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw, the border checkpoints as well as via luxury cruise liners.

Aiming at boosting the country's tourism sector, Myanmar recently announced granting visa-on-arrival to six more countries -- Italy, Spain, Germany, Russia, Switzerland and Australia -- starting from Oct.1 this year as a relaxation of restriction on entry into the country.