Aung La N Sang Inspired By New Role As Myanmar’s Tourism Ambassador

ONEchampionship.com

Two-division ONE World Champion Aung La N Sang has proudly represented Myanmar all throughout his mixed martial arts career.

Now, “The Burmese Python” has officially been given the opportunity to help more people discover his homeland.

In December, Aung La N Sang was appointed Myanmar’s Tourism Ambassador.

U Ohn Maung, the nation’s Minister of Hotels and Tourism, bestowed the position upon the 33-year-old and honored him with a ceremony in Yangon.

“The rotary club introduced me to some of the members, and some of the members are friends with the tourism minister,” the ONE Middleweight and Light Heavyweight World Champion explains.

“The tourism minister was having breakfast that morning at our hotel and he said, ‘I want to appoint you as a tourism ambassador because you’re internationally known.’ So they set up a date [to make it official].

“When I went back [to Myanmar] this winter, they took me out on a boat. They had a little ceremony and had me give a speech, so I’m a tourism ambassador now.”

The Southeast Asian country has been looking to grow its tourism industry in recent years, and the hope is by recruiting global superstars like Aung La N Sang, the nation will receive more visitors.

Ever since the icon made his ONE Championship debut in June 2014, he has regularly visited his homeland.

Not only does he return to Myanmar to defend his World Titles, but he also frequently comes back to spend time with his family, support the local charities, and help expand the nation’s martial arts scene.

“The Burmese Python” recently unveiled plans to break ground on several new academies in the country and has shown tremendous support to the athletes from Myanmar following in his footsteps.

In fact, he traveled to the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium for ONE: REIGN OF VALOR just to corner Bozhena “Toto” Antoniyar, “The Dragon Leg” Tial Thang, and Phoe “Bushido” Thaw.

Now, through his new role, Aung La N Sang hopes he can help attract more and more casual visitors to come to “The Golden Land.”

It is a job he takes very seriously, especially when given the chance to explain why tourists should visit.

“The people are super friendly. Everybody wants to talk to you if you’re a foreigner,” he begins.

“Families will invite you to come over to dinner if you’re a foreigner. It’s very easy to make friends in Myanmar, and the food is delicious. If you like Thai food and if you like Indian food, it’s like a mix between those two. Those are delicious.

“We have a city called Bagan, where they have ancient monasteries that were built eight or nine centuries ago. You have beautiful rivers, beautiful natural mountains, and everything that you can think of. They have cool places where you can go mountain climbing, cool places where you can explore on a boat, and nice beaches.

“It’s a very beautiful country that hasn’t been as touristy. Myanmar has been untouched compared to the rest of the world. It has that distant beauty to it.”

Aung La N Sang will do everything in his power to bring more visitors to Myanmar.

However, in the meantime, he is preparing to defend the ONE Middleweight World Title against his old rival, Ken Hasegawa, in the co-main event of ONE: A NEW ERA in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, 31 March.

If “The Burmese Python” can win the biggest rematch in ONE Championship history, then more people may be inspired to come visit the megastar’s homeland.