Burma Tourism Boycott to escalate following Crackdown

The Burma Campaign UK today announced it would be stepping up its campaign against tourism to Burma following a brutal crackdown on the democracy movement in that country.

On Friday 30th May a pro-government militia ambushed a convoy carrying pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters. The attack turned into a massacre, with up to a hundred feared dead. One eyewitness claims the bodies of the dead and injured were burnt by soldiers in an attempt to hide evidence of the attack.

Aung San Suu Kyi and the rest of the National League for Democracy (NLD) leadership have been placed under arrest, hundreds more have been arrested and NLD offices have been closed, as have universities and colleges.

“On Friday 30th May, as tourists in Burma sat down to dinner, the regime was massacring its own people”, said Yvette Mahon, Director of the Burma Campaign UK. “Those tourists helped to fund that same regime.”

Aung San Suu Kyi has repeatedly asked tourists to stay away, citing the financial and moral support tourism gives the dictatorship.

In addition to raising awareness amongst the British public about the negative impact of tourism to Burma, the Burma Campaign UK will target companies operating tours there. “We aim to cut off demand and supply”, says Mahon.

As a first step the Burma Campaign UK will be writing to all travel companies in Britain operating trips in Burma. “We will explain the situation and request they cease operating in Burma”, says Yvette Mahon. “Tourism is a vital source of income for the regime. These companies must face the fact that they are helping to fund a dictatorship, and that they are doing so against the wishes of the people of Burma.”

A decade ago the regime Burma identified tourism as a key potential source of income. In no other country are human rights abuses and tourism so closely linked. Slave labour has been widely used to build tourist infrastructure and over a million people forced to leave their homes. Burma’s regime claims it earns $100 million a year from tourism. It spends over 40 percent of its budget on the military.

In April this year, following lobbying by the Burma Campaign UK, Kuoni announced it would cease operating in Burma at the end of the year, leaving Orient Express and Abercrombie & Kent as the last significant tour operators still in Burma. The Burma Campaign UK will be launching a major campaign against Orient Express later this year.

Just over thirty other tour operators feature on a ‘dirty list’ of companies in Burma. The list will be updated later this month. Most do not even mention Burma is ruled by a dictatorship in their tour guides.

Included on the list is Intrepid Travel, which earlier this year announced it was returning to Burma despite requests from campaign groups, unions, members of parliament and MEPs that it continue its boycott.

Also on the list is Australian Airlines, whose subsidiary Lauda Air is the only airline with direct flights to Burma. Austrian Airlines are the subject of a Europewide boycott campaign.

The Burma tourism boycott was launched in 1996 in response to calls from Burma’s democracy movement “Overall, the tourist industry has responded well to our campaign”, says Yvette Mahon. “Today, none of the major tour operators in Britain go to Burma, and only one airline in the whole of Europe has direct flights. If those remaining won’t listen to reason, they face a major campaign. We’ll pick them off one by one.”

For more information contact Yvette Mahon, Director of Burma Campaign UK,or Mark Farmaner, Media Officer, on 020 7281 7377

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