Lonely Planet’s attempt to offset criticism of its Burma guide backfires

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Lonely Planet’s attempt to offset criticism of its Burma guide backfires

13 Jun 2000

On Friday May 26 The Burma Campaign UK and Tourism Concern launched a new arm of their existing campaign opposing tourism to Burma - calling for a boycott of all Lonely Planet publications (LP) until the company withdraws its Burma guide from the market.

In anticipation of the boycott campaign launch outside Lonely Planet’’s London offices, the company displayed poster-size laminated copies of a letter written by a small organisation called the Burma Relief Centre on the outside of the building. The letter thanked Lonely Planet for a recent donation. Lonely Planet’s press pack also carried copies of this letter and recent press articles have made reference to it.

The Burma Relief Centre, based in Thailand has since sent the following letter to Lonely Planet:

Dear Maureen Wheeler,
We were dismayed to find reference to your recent donation to the Burma Relief Centre in the article in the Daily Telegraph on May 27, ‘Burma guide blacklisted’. This has led us to question your organisation’s motives in donating to us. It appears that you had intended to publicise the donation to offset criticism of your organisation’s promotion of tourism in Burma.

As you are aware (from our very first correspondence with your organisation ten years ago), we are against the promotion of tourism in Burma under the current dictatorship. We believe that foreign tourism is one of the factors sustaining the regime, and prolonging the kind of misery we are witnessing daily along the border. Thus, we would prefer not to be complicit in any defence that your organisation is making regarding this issue.

We realise that we were mistaken in accepting your donation, and would like to return it immediately. We will send you a bank draft made out to ‘Lonely Planet Publications’ for the amount you had donated to us, or we can wire the money back if you provide us with your bank account details.

Yours sincerely,
Pippa Curwen,
Director

For further information contact:
Yvette Mahon or John Jackson, The Burma Campaign UK: 020 7281 7377(w) or 07957 301 346(m).
Patricia Barnett, Tourism Concern: 020 7753 3330(w) or 020 7272 1749 (h)

Notes to Editors:
- A full briefing on Lonely Planet in relation to Burma and copies of a postcard produced for the Campaign are available from The Burma Campaign UK and Tourism Concern.

- The development of tourism in Burma is directly linked to well documented mass human rights abuses. There are approximately eight million men, women and children as young as eight years old in forced labour each year in Burma. The United Nation’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports that “the military…treat the civilian population as an unlimited pool of forced labourers and servants at their disposal. The practice of forced labour is to encourage private investment in infrastructure development, public sector works and tourism projects”

- Income generated through tourism helps to sustain one of the most brutal military regimes in the world. On the other hand tourism benefits only a tiny percentage of Burma’s 48 million people; eighty percent live in rural areas and their primary means of income is agriculture.

- Burma’s elected leaders - the only authority with a mandate to speak for the people - have pleaded for all tourists and the tourism industry to avoid Burma whilst it remains a dictatorship.

- Aung San Suu Kyi speaking in January 1999 said: “Guide book writers should listen to their consciences and be honest about their motivations. Profit is clearly their agenda. It’s not good enough to suggest that by visiting Burma tourists will understand more. If tourists really wanted to find out what’s happening in Burma – it’s better if they stay at home and read some of the many human rights reports there are.”

- Rough Guides publications recently issued a statement explaining its own decision not to produce a guide to Burma in the current climate. This states, in part: “As long as the military regime remains in power and Aung San Suu Kyi – leader of the democratically elected National League for Democracy – requests that tourists do not visit, Rough Guides will not publish a guide to the country.”