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date: 15 January 2008

embargo: 00.01hrs Wednesday 16 January 2008

Tour operators urged to pull out of Burma

Tourism Concern and the TUC are today (Wednesday) calling for a tourism boycott of Burma and urging tour operators, guidebook publishers and tourists to stay away until democracy is restored.

The calls come following the violent crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations by the ruling military junta last September.

Tourism generates significant revenue which helps sustain the brutal military regime and provides it with much needed foreign currency. Burma's tourism industry is directly linked to mass human rights abuses. This has included the displacement of over a million people under 'beautification' schemes near major tourist attractions and to make way for tourist developments, such as resorts and golf courses.

The use of forced labour, including child labour, to develop tourism infrastructure in order to attract foreign investment is also well-documented, often preventing conscripts from harvesting crops in a country where food shortages are commonplace.

A tourism boycott was first called for by the democratically elected government in exile and their leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest in Rangoon. Their position remains unchanged today. The boycott is part of a broader strategy of economic sanctions and diplomatic efforts by the international community to exert pressure on the illegal military regime for democratic reform.

Some tour operators contend that a tourism boycott would be unethical and only serve to alienate the innocent Burmese majority further. It is argued that tourism provides a rare income generating opportunity for those working in the industry, as well as an opportunity for their experiences to be shared with the outside world. A number of tour operators are strong advocates of 'responsible tourism' and are committed to only using small private businesses without links to the regime.

Tourism Concern and the TUC argue that it is not possible for tour operators to open up tourism in Burma to an exclusively 'responsible' clientele, who try to avoid state-run businesses as much as possible, without also encouraging those who have little interest in Burma's human rights record and, as such, are not concerned about how and where their money is spent.

Tourism Concern and the TUC believe that the scale of the human rights abuses directly linked to tourism and the vast revenues the industry generates for the current oppressive regime cannot justify the minimal benefits it provides to the Burmese people, the vast majority of whom live in rural areas, never come into contact with tourists and gain nothing from the tourism industry. Burmese nationals seen interacting with tourists risk interrogation and sustained harassment by the military junta.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "Trade unions have been at the forefront of campaigns for longer holidays, but Burmese unions have asked us not to take those holidays in Burma.

'We're urging the travel industry to drop Burma from their list of destinations because of the forced and child labour involved in Burmese tourist attractions and facilities, because of the money and endorsement tourism offers the bloody dictatorship that runs Burma, and because it's simply immoral to holiday in a country-wide prison camp."

Tricia Barnett of Tourism Concern stated: 'Travelling to Burma without contributing to the regime - either economically with your money or 'morally' with your very presence - is virtually impossible. Visa fees, airport duties, currency exchange and domestic travel are unavoidable outlays for international tourists, and many hotels and businesses are owned by or pay money to the regime. As such, any tour operator or guidebook condoning travel to Burma sends a strong message of validation, as do tourists visiting the country.'

Tourism Concern has published a list of 15 UK-based tour operators still conducting trips to Burma on its website www.tourismconcern.org.uk/index.php?page=campaign-with-us

Tourism Concern and the TUC are calling on people to take part in a letter-writing campaign urging the operators to stop visiting Burma until democracy is restored.

Tourism Concern is also targeting BBC Worldwide Ltd, the new majority shareholder of the Lonely Planet travel guide series, which includes a guidebook on Burma. In autumn last year, both Tourism Concern and the TUC wrote to John Smith, the Chief Executive of BBC Worldwide, asking him to withdraw the guidebook and sign up to the economic boycott campaign.

BBC Worldwide contends that its Burma guide provides objective information to travellers deciding whether to visit and how to make informed choices once there. Tourism Concern argues that such a guide will inevitably encourage people to visit the country and is urging BBC Worldwide to take an ethical stand on the issue by withdrawing the latest edition.

Until such a time, Tourism Concern and the TUC are calling on prospective travellers to use alternative guidebook series which do not promote tourism in Burma by producing books on the country.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- Tourism Concern is an independent, non-industry, UK charity and membership organisation that fights exploitation through tourism (registered charity no. 1064020). Tourism Concern aims to change the way that tourism is traded and developed through collaborative work with industry, government, development and human rights NGOs by supporting marginalised voices.

- Burma and Tourism: Facts and Figures

1.1 billion: US dollars invested in the tourism industry in Burma since it opened up to tourism in 1998.

100 million: US dollars earned annually by Burma through tourism.

48 million: current population of Burma, 75% of which earn a living through agriculture. Of the remaining 25%, just a small proportion benefit from tourism.

8 million: number of men, women and children conscripted as forced labour, often for the development of tourism infrastructure, by the military regime since it seized power during a coup in 1962. This is often imposed under threat of beatings, torture, rape or murder.

1 million: number of people displaced under the current regime to make way for tourism developments, often with just a few hours notice and little or no compensation for the loss of their homes and businesses.

1,300: number of political prisoners thought to be currently held by the military regime. This may include people who have expressed dissent at being displaced to make way for, or conscripted to help build, tourism developments.

650: acres of rice paddy recently converted into a golf course for tourists by a western company.

60: percentage of Burmese people earning less than 60 pence a day

40: percentage of national budget spent on the military. Just 19 pence is spent per person on health by the regime annually

15: number of UK tour operators continuing to promote tourism to Burma

12: percentage of income cited by Burma's Minister of Hotels and Tourism in 2002 as being received by the government from tourism services, including private businesses.

12: number of years democratically elected leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, had been under house arrest in Rangoon as of 24th October 2007. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and her National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory at the elections in 1990 but the military have always refused to relinquish power.

1: number of democratic elections held in Burma in over 42 years.

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Tourism Concern: Rachel Noble T: 020 7133 3330 or M: 07885 707 848

E: rachel@tourismconcern.org.uk

TUC : Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk

Press release (1,300 words) issued 16 Jan 2008