Derek, a retired UK diplomat, contacted the Beetle to
\nsay that all too often the controversy over whether or not
\nto visit Burma tends to overlook the very important issue
\nof whether the people of Burma themselves are happy to see
\nand meet foreign tourists. Derek, who is to visit Burma
\nagain next month, has made a study of anecdotal reports of
\nBurmese attitudes over the last five years – alas the sole
\nsource of information in the absence of credible opinion
\npolls – and his conclusion is that the Burmese people
\nthemselves very much favour visits by tourists and
\ntravellers to their country by a margin of at least 10 to
\n1. We have reproduced a cut down version of his survey.<\/p>\n
*****<\/p>\n
Some travel correspondents say that on their visits they
\nfound it difficult, if not impossible to find any Burmese,
\neven rank and file members of Daw Suu Kyi’s National League
\nfor Democracy, who were against tourism to their country,
\ndespite Daw Suu Kyi’s strictures. A “search” on Alta Vista
\nfor “Burma Travel Boycott” any evening will produce over
\n3,000 “hits”. A sample selection of reported Burmese views
\nfrom these “hits” confirms my conclusion that the Burmese
\npeople generally really do want tourists and travellers to
\nvisit.<\/p>\n
It is for many their main source of income, protection
\nagainst the excesses of the military and an assurance that
\ntheir plight may at least be witnessed by those who are
\nsensitive observers. Travel and tourism indeed advance the
\ncause of democracy.<\/p>\n
My simple conclusion is that we should primarily be
\nguided by the wishes and advice of the Burmese people , and
\nnot that of the UK Government whose policy is to “strongly
\ndiscourage tourism to Burma” – FCO Minister Bill Rammell,
\n25 November 2003, speech on “Why Human Rights Matter” to
\nthe Institute for Public Policy Research.<\/p>\n
Tourism is admittedly a source, but not, as another FCO
\nMinister, Mike O’Brien stated in a letter on 14 July 2003
\nto the Chief Executive of ABTA, Ian Reynolds, “an important
\nsource” of hard currency for the SPDC. Net profits pale
\ninto insignificance against the US$ 2-3 billion purchases
\nin recent years, mostly from China, of arms and military
\nequipment. Most hotels are barely covering their operating
\ncosts. Remittances by tourist enterprises out of Burma of
\nsome US$ 25 million annually [IMF estimates] for essential
\npayments punch quote a hole in US$ 100 million annual
\nrevenue. Local costs swallow up much of the balance. It is
\nnot credible to argue that tourism is in any serious sense
\nhelping to prop up the regime. It would do so if numbers
\nincreased tenfold, but this isn’t likely to happen for a
\nvery long time.<\/p>\n
There is no doubt that Daw Suu Kyi would prefer tourists
\nto delay visiting Burma. Over the years, she has advanced
\nnumerous reasons for not visiting Burma, some of which are
\nnot all that convincing, notably arguments about giving the
\nregime “legitimacy” (while the UK accepts Burma as Myanmar
\nat the UN and maintains full diplomatic relations, with an
\nAmbassador in post), about “it’s better to stay at home and
\nread some of the many human rights reports there are”
\n(which is not perhaps the best way to experience and
\nwitness what is going on in Burma), about “the bulk of the
\nmoney goes straight into the pockets of the Generals” (when
\nrevenue clearly goes to meeting operating expenses, debt,
\ndepreciation, transfer to reserves etc.), about “Burma will
\nstill be there when the time is ripe” (but not for
\noctogenarian veterans of the Burma Campaign, while for
\nscholars, linguists, ethnologists, Buddhist scholars and
\nmany others with specialist interests Burma has been a
\nhermit kingdom ever since the military took over in 1962),
\nabout “we haven’t had time to discuss it [tourism policy]
\nproperly” at a news conference in May 2002 (which might
\nleave some of us still wondering what NLD policy really
\nis).<\/p>\n
The tourist trade has been hard hit by the latest
\nindiscriminate US sanctions which have led to the
\nsuspension of all credit card transactions in Burma and
\nrestrictions on the utilisation of the US Dollar. Quite
\nsoon, thousands of postcard sellers and stall holders,
\ntourist guides, hotel staff and drivers will be joining the
\n80,000 or so textile workers who have been made
\nunemployed.<\/p>\n
No-one in Burma is making any serious money out of
\ntourism at present, and what is the point of allocating
\nbeach land to cronies of the regime when there is no
\ninvestment capital available to develop projects?
\nOccasionally critics point to the Shangri-La Traders Hotel
\nas an example of a Joint Venture which must be making money
\nfor the SPDC. They might be surprised to know that Traders
\nHotel has been in liquidation since 1999.<\/p>\n
Tourism is about meeting people, and in the case of
\nBurma letting the Burmese know that the outside world has
\nnot forgotten them.<\/p>\n
Derek Tonkin<\/p>\n