Abstract

• Public diplomacy tries to attract by drawing attention and understanding of foreign publics for its nation’s values, culture, and policies through broadcasting, subsidizing cultural exports, arranging exchanges, etc. Tourism development contributes to transfer the economic mechanism, bringing the source of revenue for the state budget, attracting foreign investment and exporting products, affecting positively to the development of the related economic business. In order to develop tourism sector as a non-smoking industry, it is necessary for Myanmar to utilize the country’s public diplomacy in the fourth industrial revolution age. Based on this background, this paper is an attempt to study the effects of public diplomacy on tourism development for the economic growth of Myanmar. Among the ASEAN countries, Vietnam tourism development will be examined to take the lessons learnt for Myanmar tourism development. The research question focuses on why public diplomacy plays an effective tool to develop tourism sector and how public diplomacy and tourism development link for the economic growth of Myanmar.