Burma tourism cannot help, says MP
October 12, 2007
A few weeks ago we carried the story that TransIndus, an operator that goes to Burma, has pledged to continue tours to the troubled country despited being placed on a boycott list. Reporter Edward Robertson followed up with a post about how tourism can help the political situation there.
Not so, says Labour member for Ilford South Mike Gapes. Gapes spoke on the issue in Parliament yesterday afternoon:
When an individual in this country makes a decision to go on a package holiday, and they choose a country where a repressive regime uses the foreign currency that is spent, there are consequences.
I was recently involved in an altercation about Burma with a figure from the travel industry. His claim that people who went on holiday to Burma might be able to report on what was going on there struck me as one of the most bizarre arguments that I had heard for a long time. I can hardly imagine the Burmese military regime allowing people to go up to the north of the country where the monks have been taken in chains and locked up.
I wonder who this 'figure from the travel industry' might have been. Does anyone know?
Nathan Midgley, web producer
Nathan Midgley
Martin Couzins
Comments (2)
Very true, the Burmese military junta uses the fixed amount foreign exchange that tourists must exchange at the airport for their own purposes - mainly to purchase foreign made weapons.
In addition to the obvious fact that package tourists are herded around by government approved local operators and cannot speak freely to local people, the hotels, the airports, the railway - most of the infrastructure used by tourists has been built by slave labour.
Most responsible tour operators and travel guide book publishers have accepted the wish of the democratically elected leader of Burma not to promote tourism as long as a dictatorship is in power. Those that insist on selling tours to Burma cannot claim any moral justification. They should just be honest that this is a proftable business since there is not much competition on this route.
Posted by Roy Graff | October 17, 2007 8:42 PM
Posted on October 17, 2007 20:42
Roy Graff is mistaken. Ever since August 2004, the compulsory exchange for individual travellers - US$ 200 per visitor - has been abolished.
Individual travellers to Burma outnumber package tourists by 2 to 1, according to the travel figures to year ended 31 March 2007.
Most travel operators lose money on their Burma business because there are so few takers. They only keep it going in the hope of better times to come.
Posted by Derek Tonkin | November 1, 2007 2:39 PM
Posted on November 1, 2007 14:39