Abercrombie and Kent drop Burma tours

The Burma Campaign UK today welcomed news that luxury travel firm Abercrombie & Kent is to stop operating tours to Burma at the end of this year. The company has been on a ‘dirty list’ of companies in Burma published by the Burma Campaign UK.

“This is excellent news,” said Anna Roberts, Campaigns Officer at the Burma Campaign UK. “Abercrombie and Kent were one of the last significant tour operators left in Burma. It further isolates Orient Express, Carnival Cruises and Noble Caledonia. We will be stepping up pressure on them to withdraw as well.”

Earlier this month the British government wrote to travel companies asking them to stop tours to Burma. Abercrombie & Kent are the first travel company to respond to the government’s request.

Burma, ruled by one of the most brutal military dictatorships in the world, is the subject of a tourist boycott following calls by Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Burma’s democracy movement, for tourists to stay away. Tourism provides the generals with an important source of foreign currency, and slave labour has been widely used to build tourist infrastructure.

Earlier this year Kuoni and Travelsphere announced they are also ending tours to Burma.

For more information contact Anna Roberts or Mark Farmaner, Media Officer, on 020 7281 7377

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