Should you visit Myanmar?

Travel to Myanmar has been a hotly debated issue for many years. The military government’s appalling human rights record has led some organisations to call for a travel boycott. While there are many travel destinations with repressive governments, the Burmese military regime stands out because of its use of forced labour to build tourism infrastructure.

Lonely Planet is a strong advocate of responsible and informed travel. We believe that travellers should be aware of and sensitive to the political, economic and social environment they are visiting. Once equipped with that information, it is up to the individual traveller to decide whether or not to go.

The Lonely Planet Myanmar guide lays out the strong arguments both for and against visiting the country and urges individuals to make a fully informed decision about whether to visit.

Reasons Not to Go: - International tourism can be seen to give a stamp of approval to the SPDC, and is promoted as such by the government. - Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD have called on the international community to boycott travel to Myanmar until the candidates democratically elected in 1990 are allowed to form a government. - The government still controls which parts of the country travellers can visit, and deliberately keeps travellers away from areas where forced labour or repression of minorities is occurring. - It is all-but-impossible to avoid some government-owned businesses, tourism sites and transport. - The mandatory purchase of US$200 worth of FECs by every foreign tourist entering the country provides the government with much-needed foreign exchange. - Forced labour has been used to construct some of the country’s tourism infrastructure. Reasons to Go: - Tourism remains one of the few industries to which ordinary Burmese have access. Any reduction in tourism automatically means a reduction in local income-earning opportunities. - It is becoming increasingly possible to travel around Myanmar without staying in government-owned hotels, using government-owned transport etc. - The government is sensitive to international criticism and has sometimes modified its behaviour as a result of negative reports by foreign travellers. - Many pro-democracy activists within Myanmar itself argue that sanctions are counterproductive, and that economic development (as achieved through industries such as tourism) can lead to political liberalisation. - Keeping the Burmese isolated from international witnesses to internal oppression may only cement the government’s ability to rule. - Human rights-tragedies such as the 1988 massacre are less likely to occur if the members of the international community are on the ground in Myanmar.

Travellers who do decide to go should spend their money with local independent services so that as little money as possible will get to government owned businesses. Travellers who respect their host communities and spend money with an awareness of who benefits can also make a positive contribution to the lives of the people of the countries they visit.

If you do go... If you do go to Myanmar and would like to maximise the positive effects of a visit among the general populace, while minimising support of the government, follow these simple tactics: - Stay at private, locally owned hotels and guesthouses, rather than in government-owned hotels. - Avoid package tours connected with Myanmar Travel & Tours (MTT; the state tourist agency). Many independent tour agencies are available in Yangon. - Avoid MTT-sponsored modes of transport, such as the Yangon-Mandalay Express trains, the MTT ferry between Mandalay and Bagan, and Myanma Airways (MA) flights. - Buy handicrafts directly from the artisans, rather than from government shops. - Avoid patronising companies involved with the military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings. Companies with solid links to the Tatmadaw (armed forces) are often called Myawadi or Myawaddy. - Bring a few popular (but not politically sensitive) paperback books or recent magazines to give to Burmese people. Books and magazines are often expensive or hard to find in cash-poor Myanmar, and this simple act will be much appreciated. - Be conscious that the Burmese are not free to discuss politics with foreigners and may be punished or imprisoned if they are caught doing this by the government. Wait for them to raise political topics and never force or initiate such discussions. - Write to the Myanmar government and to the Myanmar embassy in your country expressing your views about the human-rights situation there.

The Lonely Planet Myanmar guide encourages those travellers who decide to go to support non-government tourist facilities wherever possible. Lonely Planet has made a decision not to review any restaurants, hotels or shops known to be government owned. Travellers are also encouraged to buy crafts directly from artisans instead of government-run stores and to use privately owned transport services.

Pressmeddelande: Lonely Planet Publications Ltd

Länkar - om att resa eller inte resa till Myanmar:

Tourism to Burma - should you stay or should you go?
www.burmacampaign.org.uk/actions/action_holiday.html

Boycott Tourism
www.cfob.org/Campaigns/boycottTourism/tourism.shtml

Wish You Were Here?
www.cfob.org/Campaigns/boycottTourism/article1.shtml

To go or not to go? (Joe Cummings, author of Lonely Planet's Myanmar)
www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Responsible_Travel/Burma_goornotgo.html

Who's paying for your holiday?
www.hackwriters.com/burma.htm

Länksida, bland annat till Aung San Suu Kyi´s sajt:
www.freeburma.org

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