Tourism to Burma

By Justin Francis, responsibletravel.com

On Friday I did an interview for the BBC about Burma.

There is only one country that responsibletravel.com has a policy of not marketing as a tourism destination and that is Burma. We market holidays to many countries with poor human rights records and so you might ask why we make a special case of Burma?

1. The democratically elected leader - Aung San Suu Kyi - has in the past stated that she does not feel that it is helpful for tourists to visit the country. She has never made it known that she has changed her mind on this matter. It is extremely unusual for tourism to be singled out in this way.

2. The UK and EU Governments are advising against British businesses investing in Burma. We do not want to undermine our Governments positions on this by sending tourists.

3. We believe that slave labour has been used to create tourists facilities, and that local people removed from these places without adequate consultation or compensation.

4. I would not want someone to travel to Burma at great expense and then wonder if it was right that they were there.

It's a very tough decision to make but I believe that these arguments are more important that the fact that is is possible to travel to Burma and do so in a way which would provide an income for local people. One day I hope to market holidays to a a free, fair and democratic Burma - I hear its a truly remarkable place.

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