YANGON, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar hotel and tourism authorities will build over 50 hotels across the nation ahead of 2013 in preparation for accommodating foreign guests arriving for the 27th Southeast Asian Games hosted by Myanmar, a local media reported Tuesday.

Myanmar owns 22 foreign-invested hotels, 9 government and 678 private hotels, having 11 hotel zones at regions where visitors mainly travel, the Messenger said.

More hotel zones will also be extended to meet travelers demand ahead of the occasion, it added.

Singapore has topped foreign investment in Myanmar's hotel sector with 597.75 million U.S dollars, followed by Thailand with 263.25 million USD, Japan with 183.01 million USD, China's Hong Kong with 77 million USD, Malaysia with 20 million USD and Britain with 3.4 million USD.

These countries mainly invest in running Yangon's Sedona Hotel, Strand Hotel, Traders Hotel, Park Royal Hotel and Dusit Inya Lake Hotel as well as Mandalay's Sedona Hotel, Mandalay Hill Resort Hotel, Mandalay Swan Hotel and Thiri Pyitsayar Sakura Hotel.

According to statistics, the number of tourist arrivals in Myanmar reached over 140,000 in the first four months of 2011, up about 30,000 from over 109,000 in 2010 correspondingly,

Most of the tourists arrived through Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw international airports as well as through Muse and Tachileik border points by road respectively.

Visitors from China stood top in Myanmar 's tourist arrivals, followed by those from Germany, Spain, Norway, Thailand, Cambodia and India.