News

EXCLUSIVE by Sarah Thomas

KUONI is to drop Burma from its programme next year, after calls to cut links from human rights pressure group Burma Campaign.

Kuoni managing director Sue Biggs said it was dropping Burma due to the commercial factors of SARS and low public demand.

"We very much look forward to returning to Burma once the British public demands it back, which we expect to happen as soon as democracy is restored,” she added.

The Burma Campaign claims tourism funds a military regime responsible for millions of human rights abuses. Kuoni currently offers a Road to Mandalay cruise and Classical Burma tour.

The operator took "a couple of hundred" UK passengers to the country last year, although 2003 business was set to be much less, according to Biggs.

Burma Campaign will now turn its attention to Orient Express which is "one of the last significant tour operators left in Burma," according to UK director Yvette Mahon.