Damn!! I was thinking about buying 2 books from lonely Planet, one for South America and another for Europe, I guess I’ll have to wait!
There is a boycott going, one of those that actually makes sense; Lonely Planet Guide to Burma, give the reader the impression the traveler can visit the country on an ethical manner, however tourism itself is given more opportunity for an already brutal regime to be even worse. Besides the money coming into the country that fuel the current military dictatorship it is also the reason why thousands of Burmanese are driven away from their homes and crops to give way to new tourism infrastructures to be put in place.
Sign the petition here and maybe BBC will think twice.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Burma-Campaign-Action
For more infoi check: http://burmadigest.wordpress.com/
Here some fact and figures:
- 1.1 billion: US dollars invested in the tourism industry in Burma since it opened up to tourism in 1988.
- 100 million: US dollars earned annually by Burma through tourism.
- 56.7 million: current population of Burma (IMF 2007), 75 per cent of which earn a living through agriculture. Of the remaining 25 per cent, 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 24 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.
