China leads tourism boom in Myanmar The Irrawaddy 19 January 2012 More visitors to Burma came from China than any other country in 2011. Thailand was close behind with 61,696 visitors, and Malaysia was third with 23,287. According to the yearly tourism statistics published by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, 65,838 mainland Chinese citizens, including 3,820 Chinese Hong Kong residents, travelled to Burma in 2011, an increase of more than 33 percent from the year before. The number of Chinese citizens travelling to Burma on tourist visas has steadily increased in recent years. Last year's total of 49,222 Chinese visitors marked a 16-fold increase over the last 10 years.
ForgottenTreasures - Rangoon Financial Times - 4 December 2011 Writer and historian Thant Myint-U, in a full-page article in the Financial Times, looks at the historical legacy of perfectly preserved colonial architecture in Rangoon (Yangon), and wonders whether it will survive the transition.
Myanmar tourism enters a new era ETN Global Travel Industry News - 26 November 2011 Political and economic reforms will de facto create a new impetus in the tourism sector. The boycott of the destination –in place for many decades- is fading away with tourists are now keen to visit one of Southeast Asian tourism’s last frontiers. In 2010, Myanmar welcomed 792,000 travelers, including 297,000 visiting Yangon. This year, this number should reach between 870,000 and 900,000.
Food File: Yangon Sydney Morning Herald - 30 October 2011 Burma's cuisine combines influences from south-east Asia, China and India. Snacks range from favourites such as samosas to more unusual offerings such as bat skewers but meals tend to be spicy and flavoursome. We particularly love mohinga - fish soup fragrant with garlic, ginger and lemongrass.
Responsible Tourism in Myanmar Mizzima - 27 September 2011 Dr Andrea Valentin, the founder of Tourism Transparency, tells Mizzima of her recent visit to Myanmar, of the workshop on responsible tourism which she gave to the National League for Democracy and of her hopes for the future. "I met members of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, the Myanmar Tourism Board, members of the Archaeological Department in Bagan, Myanmar Hotel Association, Tour Operator Association, NGOs, Myanmar Egress, Myanmar Tour Operators, Tour Guides, Hotel and Restaurant Managers as well as the local residents of a small community near Mount Popa, where we went to visit a potential future responsible tourism project.......We are looking forward to working with the Myanmar government and other stakeholders in order to bring transparency to responsible tourism pilot projects."
The Myanmar Times - 22-28 August 2011 The latest tourist statistics show that, for the first six months of 2011, international tourist arrivals rose by 22.8% compared with the same period in 2010 to a total of 172,244 visitors. However, package tours declined sharply to only 5,525 visitors. The article discusses the reasons for this. Note by Network Myanmar: The policy of the National League for Democracy is to discourage package tours. At the present rate of only 3.2% of all visits, the NLD would seem to have little or nothing to worry about. Package tours in any case are almost wholly catered for by the private sector.
Report on Tourism in Burma Info Birmanie - March 2011 The Paris-based NGO Info Birmanie explains that its report "is not a call to boycott but to inform as much as we can. In the meantime, what we deplore is the mass tourism as practiced by the tour operators and this is why we wish, via this report to provide the tools needed by the tourists to be aware of their responsibilities." The original report was in French and may be read here.
Comment by Network Myanmar: The report is in essence a propagandist document based on the totally false allegation that "tourism is one of the most lucrative sectors for Burma and that the revenues first and foremost benefit the Generals." In fact, until 2010 tourism was a loss-making industry. Annual revenues in 2009 were US$ 198 million and in 2010 US$ 254 million. But these figures are gross receipts. After the deduction of expenses for goods and services provided, the net operating profit for most tourist enterprises has been very modest, and after deductions for interest on capital, taxation, and depreciation, few enterprises, whether guest houses, restaurants or international class hotels, made any significant net profit sufficient to declare a dividend on investment.
The level of gross revenues from tourism pales in comparison with receipts from natural gas (US$ 2.2 billion in 2010), jade and precious stones and timber. Indeed, total export revenues currently exceed US$ 8 billion annually so that receipts from tourism currently represent only about 2.5% of total visible and invisible revenues.
State and "crony" owned hotels are less than 10% of all hotels and guest houses in Myanmar. At the latest count there were 22 foreign-owned international class, 9 government-owned and 678 privately owned hotels in Myanmar. Until recently, the "oligarchs" showed little interest in investment in the tourism sector because it was so unprofitable. That could change now that the boycott against tourism has ceased. In the 1990s "nearly all the big new hotels which have opened or are being built in Burma are owned by foreign companies with only a few joint ventures" ("Burma: The Alternative Guide" by the Burma Action Group, which became the Burma Campaign UK). In her first Reith Lecture (page 20) on 28 June 2011, Suu Kyi argued that "we can't say that all big hotels are owned by cronies, but I would say that the great majority of them are......" The facts do not support her statement.
Burma: Getting back on the tourist map Financial Times - 2 August 2011 Tim Johnston reports: "Burma used to be off the map, figuratively speaking, because of the political environment and reports that Suu Kyi wanted to discourage tourism. But that has changed. She now supports independent tourism: “I think we are going to encourage individual tourism, encourage tourists to stay in certain kinds of hotels, ethical tourism if you like,” she told the FT’s David Pilling in January.
Xinhua has reported that there are 22 foreign-owned international class, 9 government-owned and 678 privately owned hotels in Myanmar. Singapore has topped foreign investment in the hotel sector with US$597.75 million, followed by Thailand with US$263.25 million, Japan with US$183.01 million, China's Hong Kong with US$77 million, Malaysia with US$20 million and Britain with US$3.4 million. These countries have mainly invested in Yangon's Sedona Hotel, Strand Hotel, Traders Hotel, Park Royal Hotel and Dusit Inya Lake Hotel as well as Mandalay's Sedona Hotel, Mandalay Hill Resort Hotel, Mandalay Swan Hotel and Thiri Pyitsayar Sakura Hotel.
Rush back to Burma Sunday Times (Travel) - 31 July 2011 Text of report: "Tour operators are reporting huge interest in trips to Burma following the announcement by the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi that the 15-year tourism boycott is officially over. While some companies, such as TransIndus and Audley Travel, had continued to run trips to the military-ruled country, others stayed away - until now. Exodus and Imaginative Traveller have announced new tours to Burma, and Explore says the country is now its fastest-selling destination." Comment by Network Myanmar: The tourism boycott by Suu Kyi was never popular in Myanmar as the industry is over 90% in the private sector and over 1 million Burmese are estimated by the World Tourism and Travel Council to earn their living in 2011, directly (297,000 or 1.2% of employment) or indirectly (718,000 or 3% of employment), from tourism, quite apart from the support they provide to their families.
Voyages Jules Verne offers Myanmar as a travel destination VJV website accessed 25 July 2011 Voyages Jules Verne have announced that they are now offering Burma Holidays and Tours. Their publicity notes that the country is still "under an unelected military regime", but Network Myanmar has drawn their attention to recent constitutional developments which have transferred power to a civilianised administration following the November 2010 elections.
Myanmar: Land of Shadows National Geographic Magazine - August 2011 “As it emerges from isolation, the nation of Myanmar is caught between repression and reform, dark and light,” writes author Brook Larmer. For more than two decades Myanmar has struggled with an oppressive ruling regime, a draining budget and Western economic sanctions. With its first parliamentary election last November and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the main opposition party, Myanmar is taking its first steps out of hibernation and toward reform. But as China and other countries rush in to exploit Myanmar’s resources and the government fails to recognize ethnic minorities, it is clear that the road ahead is a long one.
Can you travel responsibly in Burma? Guardian Travel Blog - 10 June 2011 Jonny Bealby of tour operators Wild Frontiers looks at the prospects for tourism and concludes that there are three main benefits:
First, the government is not in power because of tourism; compared with the income they derive from timber, oil and gas, gems and agricultural exports, the money made from tourists is insignificant.
Second, there is no doubt in my mind that the vast majority of Burmese people want tourists to visit; a more welcoming and friendly population I have yet to find.
And last, it is also clear that a huge number of ordinary civilians, both directly and indirectly, benefit, from our presence.
Signs of recovery for cruise line visits Myanmar Times - 6-12 June 2011 At least nine cruise ships are expected to dock in Yangon this year, including one mega-cruise ship with over 1,000 passengers. Onshore the ships will be handled by non-State travel companies, including Myanmar Voyages, Diethelm Travel, Sunbird Tours and Tour Mandalay. A Diethelm Travel spokesperson said that while cruise visits do provide income for government departments, in the form of port and visa fees, the company believed the benefits outweighed any negative impact. “The port authorities can make more money than travel agents because the port charges every six hours the ship is docked. Travel agents get only money for ground services; for example, sightseeing and transportation,” he said, adding that the fees charged by port authorities here were similar to other countries. “However, I think the fact that travel agents can make some money is a positive and we should welcome such cruise ships to Myanmar - it’s another way to promote our country as a destination.”
Myanmar continues efforts in developing tourism Xinhua News - 1 June 2011 According to official statistics, the number of tourist arrivals in Myanmar reached 106,795 in the first three months of 2011, up 24 percent from 85,519 in 2010 correspondingly. In the whole year of 2010, a total of 791,505 travelers visited Myanmar, of whom 297,246 arrived through Yangon International Airport. Most of the tourists came on package tour, business and social purposes. Visitors from Thailand stood top in Myanmar's tourist arrivals, followed by those from China, France, South Korea and America.
"To make matters worse, forced labour is used for some construction projects.......Now, fifteen years on, the human rights record has not improved in Burma and in spite of the efforts of the International Labour Organization, forced labour can be found in many parts of the country."
Comment: This allegation has no serious basis in fact. 'Forced labour' by the civil administration on tourist infrastructure generally ceased at the turn of the Century. No significant incidents in the tourism sector have been reported for several years by the International Labour Organization and other agencies.
"The National League for Democracy boycotted 'Visit Myanmar Year 1996' to draw attention to...... the monopoly by the military regime and its cronies of the most lucrative components of the tourist industry.....Many of the bigger tourism related businesses are still owned by members of the families of those in government or their cronies; the claim that a large percentage of the industry is in private rather than in government hands overlooks the crony factor."
Comment: This shows a lack of understanding of how interest by such 'oligarchs' as Tay Za in the tourism sector has been only relatively recent as Myanmar has emerged from international isolation. In the 1990s the oligarchs showed no interest in the loss-making tourism industry, concentrating on immediate profits from natural resource extraction. Only since the development of the Ngwe Saung beach resort this Century have the oligarchs had the funds and the inclination to enter the risky tourism development sector.
There is much in the NLD statement which merits international support. On the threshold of significant tourism development, Myanmar is ideally placed to take advantage of the experience of other countries to develop a responsible and sustainable tourism industry and, if at all possible, to avoid the mistakes and pitfalls which have affected other countries.
If the European Union wish to assist the NLD's endeavours, they will need to revise their policy of not supporting development assistance involving government to government relations. Myanmar needs technical assistance in so many areas, and tourism development is one such sector.
Outside the EU, Norway has grasped the nettle when MFA State Secretary Espen Barth Eide indicated after his recent visit, which included discussions with Suu Kyi, that Norway would cease to discourage travel to Myanmar and would look at support for sustainable tourism.
Tourism requires substantial investment and commercial returns are slow to achieve. Initial investment can take 18-24 months. The expense of promoting a new hotel or resort is likely to mean that at least five years can pass before an initial net operating profit can be established and it could take another five years before the investment costs of the opening years have been fully recovered. Accordingly tourism is not for the faint-hearted. A popular truism is that a new hotel needs to change hands at least three times before a commercially viable project can be established.
Hotel and resort investment by Myanmar's oligarchs would not be their main choice, and indeed pressures on them to invest in the hotel zone in Nay Pyi Taw should be seen as the price they are asked to pay for access to other much more lucrative contracts. In this context, it would seem that the NLD are all at sea when it comes to the financial realities of the tourism sector and the involvement of the State and cronies in what has been until quite recently very much a loss-making industry.
The NLD are however right to recall their concerns with the 'Visit Myanmar Year 1996' when the authorities announced a goal of 500,000 visitors which failed to achieve even 20% of the target. As it is, Khin Shwe, Chairman of the newly created Myanmar Tourism Board, has recently said that even 300,000 tourists in 2011 would strain the country's infrastructure. At the time in the mid 1990s forced labour by the civil administration as well as forced relocations were an intractable problem, as publications then attested. But such forced labour dwindled under pressures by the International Labour Organization, and although in areas controlled by the military forced labour and compulsory portering remain a very serious problem, the civil administration has in principle since the turn of the century put an end to forced labour and now provides a minimum wage for essential road construction and other public works. Forced labour is no longer of any consequence in the tourism sector, and indeed never existed on actual construction sites.
Burmese Perspectives - 20 May 2011 Derek Tonkin takes a light-hearted look at the tourism industry in Myanmar which is flourishing perhaps too rapidly and suggests ways in which Western policies might be improved.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office - revised 13 May 2011 "Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has recently indicated that she encourages ethical, individual tourism to help spread economic wealth in Burma, particularly to those outside of or not associated with the former military regime. e.g. through using local travel agents, staying in local and smaller hotels and avoiding, where possible, patronising hotels and restaurants owned by those with privileged economic access.
"We would urge anyone who may be thinking of visiting Burma on holiday to consider carefully whether their trip would help support the regime."
Note by Network Myanmar: In our opinion, the views attributed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Suu Kyi do not fairly reflect her known public statements on tourism, as recorded on this webpage. The notion of tourists enquiring at restaurants whether the owner has "privileged economic access" before booking a table shows how far removed the FCO are from commercial realities.
Norwegian MFA State Secretary Espen Barth Eide (Labour) visits Myanmar and holds discussions with Ministers and opposition politicians, including Suu Kyi. "Opposition parties find it meaningful to participate [in the new parliament].......I believe the changes in Burma are so real that it makes sense to have a dialogue with the regime, although there is a long way to go......They are now operating within the framework of a constitution and they have a parliament. The point is not to give them a stamp of approval from Norway, but we believe it may be the beginning of something. It would therefore be foolish not to recognize them and to see what they stand for." The regime now says the right things, but they must show they are serious. If they release the remaining political prisoners, it would be a clear step in the right direction."Note by Network Myanmar: Barth Eide also made it clear that sanctions would stay for the time being, as in the EU, but that the travel advice against visiting Myanmar had now been withdrawn and that "we now instead encourage people to visit the country."
Visa on arrival hopes dashed Agencies - 9 May 2011 A businessman who attended a recent meeting with Hotel and Tourism Minister Tint Hsan said the introduction of visa on arrival would be a step by step process because of a lack of tourism infrastructure. “He [Tint Hsan] said it would be embarrassing if we open the visa on arrival when our country is not yet ready [to service tourists],” he said. “Last year, big crowds of tourists came in and it got out of control. We need to prepare a lot.”
Voyages Jules Verne announces relaunch of Burma tours Webwire - 28 April 2011 Voyages Jules Verne (VJV) has announced the relaunch of its tours to Burma following the reopening of tourism to the country. Burma was the winner of the Wanderlust Travel Award 2011 for Best Emerging Destination. This award recognises countries that were visited by relatively small numbers of Wanderlust readers during the last year, but which gained very high marks from those who did go. Burma holidays emerged at the top of the pile and is a country that, in the past six months, has gone from being the world’s most controversial travel destination to, potentially, its most exciting.
Voyages Jules Verne is pleased to be able to offer again comprehensive 14-night tours to Burma, including the remote cities of Mandalay and Pagan (Bagan) on the banks of the Irrawaddy, and Rangoon (Yangon). Travellers looking to enjoy Far East holidays can take in the breathtaking sights that Burma has to offer including the amazing Pagodas of Pagan. Those taking part in the tour of Burma with VJV will get to enjoy a private candle-lit dinner at an exclusively reserved pagoda in Pagan. VJV website page on tours to Burma
Tourist arrivals rise by more than 20% in January 2011 The Myanmar Times - 21-27 February 2011 35,965 foreign tourists passed through the Yangon gateway in January, up 21.43% on the 29,618 recorded 12 months earlier. It was the third straight increase in January arrivals, which bottomed out at just 19,024 visitors in 2008. Foreign individual travellers, know as FITs, made up the majority of the increase, rising 47.7% on January 2010 to 24,024. More than 54pc of visitors were from Asia, with the largest number coming from Thailand (5737) and South Korea (2608). France led the way in terms of European visitors with 2771 for the month, followed by Germany (1936) and the United Kingdom (1225).
The number of visitors arriving on business and social visas rose 42.5% and 9.8% respectively, according to the figures. The rise comes following a record-breaking year for the industry, and many are anticipating further increases in 2011. Figures from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism show 295,174 foreign tourists passed through the Yangon gateway, a 29.8pc increase on 2009.
Comment by Network Myanmar: To cope with the growth in tourism, the infrastructure needs to be expanded rapidly. Shortages of accommodation and high prices are already a feature of the present high season. Myanmar could experience serious difficulty in coping with 500,000 visitors in 2011.
Dr Andrea Valentin, who taught at the Department of Tourism at the University of Otago in New Zealand, presses the need to develop a tourism policy for Myanmar in the light of recent interest in the country as a tourist destination.
Note by Network Myanmar: A thoughtful and responsible article by a serious expert.
Myanmar Times - 7-13 February 2011 Figures from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism show that 295,174 foreign tourists passed through the Yangon gateway in 2010, a 29.8% increase on 2009.
Myanmar voted 'Top Emerging Travel Destination' Wanderlust Travel - 3 February 2011 Lyn Hughes, Editor of Wanderlust in a press statement: “It’s a moving and hopeful sign to see Burma top the emerging destination poll, showing that travellers’ curiosity has remained unabated during the boycott. Until the recent developments, we have not promoted Burma, respecting the wishes of Josette Vaillancourt, Aung San Suu Kyi’s mother-in-law, who called me directly back in 1994 following a feature in our second ever issue. Burma is a fragile destination that needs to be treated with care but it is wonderful to see travellers returning and supporting the country. It’s definitely top of my travel plans this year.”
Financial Times - 29 January 2011 Extract on tourism: "When it comes to tourism, Suu Kyi has softened. Her party will shortly come out with a white paper endorsing individual tourists who are careful not to spend money that goes directly to the generals. 'I think we are going to encourage individual tourism, encourage tourists to stay in certain kinds of hotels, ethical tourism if you like,' she says."
Despite the despots, millions of smiles in Myanmar NBC News - 26 January 2011 Writes Ms Bo Gu: "I live in a country where people rarely smile at strangers - China - which may explain why I came to feel spoiled by the Burmese people’s constant, friendly and bright smiles. Women or children, monks or street peddlers, they all smiled and posed for me when I took pictures of them. My trip was short, so I cannot say I understand the Burmese people, but I sensed they are so eager to communicate with people from the outside. They want the world to know how much they suffer - in a beautiful country with pleasant weather, but with an oppressive authority. And yet they begin that communication with the beautiful gesture of smiles."
Myanmar's tourism industry at a crossroads Deutsche Presse-Agentur - 21 January 2011 Aung San Suu Kyi previously opposed foreign tourists visiting her country as she threw support behind economic sanctions imposed on her country by Western democracies. She has since mellowed her stance on sanctions, saying they should be limited to those that have a minimal negative impact on Myanmar's people. Suu Kyi was freed from seven years of house detention November 13, six days after Myanmar held its first general election in two decades, but it remained unclear how the recent political developments would impact tourism. 'I don't think that tourist movements have much to do with politics, really,' said Luzi Matzig, director of the Bangkok-based Asian Trails company, which specializes in tours to Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand. 'If a tourist wants to go to Mandalay or Pagan, it's good to hear that 'The Lady' [Suu Kyi] has been freed, but will that influence his decision to visit Myanmar? I don't think so,' Matzig said. Myanmar tour operators attributed last year's good performance more to a relaxation in visa regulations than political developments.
Interview with Suu Kyi - looking to build hope New Zealand Herald - 17 January 2011 On tourism, Suu Kyi said: "We are going to work out a policy on tourism as to what kind of tourists and what way we would welcome tourists to come. How they should come and how they should go about the country. What kind of hotels they should use and what kind of facilities they should use and what they should look out for........ In such a way that tourism would benefit the people rather than the powers that be."
Associated Press - 13 January 2011 AP recalls that Suu Kyi herself, in an interview with The Associated Press shortly after her release, said that large group tourism wasn't encouraged, but "individuals coming in to see, to study the situation in the country might be a good idea." International activist groups, which have long called for a tourism boycott, have followed Suu Kyi's lead and softened their stance, now only asking that tourists snub package tours and cruise ships, which are, according to AP, " often operated by government cronies". Comment by Network Myanmar: In point of fact, package tours and cruise ships are generally handled by private travel companies. This is especially true of cruise ships, which are not "operated" by companies in Myanmar, but are handled on the ground by Diethelms, Tour Mandalay, Sunbird and Myanmar Voyages - all of which are non-State businesses. The NLD appear unfortunately to have few contacts with the travel sector in Myanmar, but would need only to consult any of these four businesses to learn about the true situation in their country. In the Andaman Sea off the Coast of Myanmar - 1994
The Myanmar Times - 10-16 January 2011 Following three consecutive lacklustre years, Myanmar’s travel industry came back strong in 2010 with increasing numbers of tourist arrivals, as well as a series of surprising developments. Figures from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism show that 228,492 foreign tourists visited the country from January to October, a 33.8% increase on the corresponding period in 2009.
Marketwire.com - 6 January 2011 With the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in November 2010, many travelers now feel more comfortable visiting Myanmar (Burma). Asia Transpacific Journeys, a leading tour company specializing exclusively in Custom Journeys and Small Group Trips in the Asia/Pacific region, is reporting a surge in bookings to Myanmar. Note by Network Myanmar: The Myanmar Times has meanwhile reported that local private tour operators have confirmed that no fewer than 12 cruise liners are scheduled to dock in Yangon during 2011, compared with only three in 2010. The US Oceania cruise liner 'Nautica' is due to dock at Thiwala Port near Yangon on 8 January 2011 with more than 600 passengers. It will be serviced by Myanmar Voyages Travel Company.
Burma Campaign UKand Tourism Concern Latest Policy on Travel and Tourism to Myanmar - December 2010 Both organisations say that they have recently reviewed their closely coordinated policies on travel and tourism to Myanmar. In the light of recent comments by the National League for Democracy, they have withdrawn their objections to travel by individuals and small groups, but say that they will continue to campaign against package tours which are said to benefit the regime. Note by Network Myanmar: In fact, package tours generally use private, not state travel agencies in Myanmar. The NLD remain somewhat ambivalent about their precise policy on numerous current issues and have (as at 28 December 2010) still to issue any formal statement on travel and tourism. This might reflect a continuing problem; the NLD has been deregistered as a political organisation after its failure to renew its registration under the Political Parties Registration Law 2010 and to issue a formal statement on any issue might be seen as a political challenge. The Supreme Court has yet to rule on an appeal by the NLD against deregistration.
Myanmar tourism booming People's Daily Online - 21 December 2010 Six Myanmar tourism companies took part in World Travel Mart (WMT) 2010 in Excel London. Besides joining other trade shows in early 2011 in such countries as Cambodia, Australia, Italy, Germany in a bid to draw attention from more countries, Myanmar will attend the ITE and MICE 2010-Annual International Travel Expo in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) scheduled for June 9 to 12 , 2011. According to official statistics, tourist arrivals in Myanmar through the Yangon International Airport reached 259,458 in the first 11 months of 2010, up 61,509 compared with the same period of 2009's 197,949. Note by Network Myanmar: Tourism looks set for take-off during the next four months. Many hotels and airlines report full bookings.
Suu Kyi rules out party overhaul Agence France-Presse - 17 December 2010 Suu Kyi has ruled out a reorganisation of her party's top ranks to replace elderly leaders with a younger generation of activists. In an interview with AFP, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was released last month from seven straight years of house arrest, also said she would not use the issue of sanctions as a bargaining chip with the ruling generals. The NLD has also softened its previous opposition to tourists visiting Myanmar, although it says people should avoid joining tour groups because the government could benefit financially. She said her party's senior members had decided several months ago, while she was under house arrest, that they would "stand strongly against group tourists". But "they would not object to individual tourists coming to study the situation and to find out what is really happening in Burma. This would also bring income into private enterprises."
Note by Network Myanmar: In accordance with the best traditions of inner-party democracy in the NLD, other members of the Central Executive Committee are unlikely even to be asked for their opinion about the need for a reorganisation of the party. In point of fact, group tourists are handled more by private agencies than by the State. This is particularly true of cruise ships which are handled by the local private company of Diethelms, the Swiss travel operators. The Orient Express 'Road to Mandalay' is handled by another private company, Tour Mandalay. There is unfortunately no one in Suu Kyi's ageing entourage with the commercial contacts and experience needed to tell her the realities of the tourism industry.
Suu Kyi supports individual tourism to Myanmar Der Spiegel Online - 22 November 2010 In a wide-ranging interview with Thilo Thielke, Suu Kyi says: "I was informed that the European Union has debated this issue. It has spoken out against group tours where Burmese government facilities are used. It endorses individual trips, however, which could benefit private companies. I haven't had an opportunity to speak with the European Union about this. But it is essential that people see what is actually happening in this country." Note by Network Myanmar: We are seeking clarification from the EU about what their present policy position on tourism might be. The 27 countries of the EU have tended to discourage tourism of any kind, but the strength of government feeling has varied from country to country. Suu Kyi's statement that "it is essential that people see what is actually happening in this country" is however an unqualified endorsement of private individual and private package tourism and has been made regardless of what EU policy might be.
Burma: tourist destination once more? The Move Channel.com - 12 November 2010 ‘My approach is to allow clients to make their own informed decisions,' explains Craig Burkinshaw, the managing director of Far East specialists Audley Travel. ‘We can provide details of organisations both for and against travel, so people can study the issue for themselves and make their own decision whether or not to travel. ‘On a personal basis, I am strongly of the view that visits to the country by well-informed people who travel to the country with an interest, not only in seeing the country, but also in learning about its massive social and political problems, is overall a positive thing.
'Opposition Party ends tourism boycott' The Times - 4 November 2010 The 15-year-old, opposition-inspired tourism boycott of Burma was declared over yesterday when the party of the Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said that it would now welcome foreign travellers. In an historic statement, Win Tin, a senior leader of the National League for Democracy, told 'The Times' in an interview in Rangoon that foreigners should visit Burma and see for themselves the suffering of the people under one of the world’s most stubborn and repressive military dictatorships. “We want people to come to Burma, not to help the junta, but to help the people by understanding the situation: political, economic, moral - everything,” said Mr Win Tin, a co-founder of the NLD and close friend of Ms Suu Kyi, who has endured 20 years as a political prisoner.
“For the outside world to see, to know our situation, that can help our cause a lot, we think. It’s rather difficult for us, but very recently Mr Tin Oo [the NLD’s deputy leader] and myself decided that really we can’t ask people not to come to Burma.” Win Tin said that the new policy had not received the explicit approval of Ms Suu Kyi, who has spent 15 of the past 20 years under house arrest. But he said that her silence on the matter, in messages brought out by the few visitors permitted to visit her, suggested that she supported the new policy.“The matter is not so very easy for us, so we haven’t decided yet whether we reverse Daw [a term of respect] Aung San Suu Kyi’s request. But our thinking nowadays is that we should allow people to come, to see how people are suffering under the regime ... There’s no response from [Ms Suu Kyi], so I think she may agree.”
The Times: 'Democracy campaigners have invited tourists into Burma' 4 November 2010 The Australian: Kenneth Denby reports NLD Deputy Chairman Tin Oo confirms that his colleague Win Tin "only encourage tourists who are coming to our country on individual arrangements. We have said organized tours will only boost the regime's pocket." Note by Network Myanmar: It is somewhat dissimulative for Win Tin to say that he does not know what Suu Kyi feels about tourism. Her lawyer Nyan Win has seen her regularly. It is hard to believe that the matter has not been discussed during one of these visits and that Suu Kyi's views are not already known. It could be that she is reluctant to change her mind and that Win Tin feels he needs to prod her gently in the right direction. Alternatively, it might be that Nyan Win knows, but is not saying. Suu Kyi was always concerned that earnings from tourism should not become the major foreign currency earner. At some US$ 200 million gross annually, they are dwarfed by earnings from sales of natural gas which already exceed US$ 2 billion annually in net operating proft, or 10 times as much. Net operating income from tourism would only be a fraction of gross earnings once the cost of goods and services has been deducted.
