Burma Extends Activist’s Detention. Should Travelers Stay Away?

Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 05.25.07 | 1:10 PM ET

When travelers debate the ethics of visiting Burma, they invariably invoke the case of Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been detained for years by the nation’s repressive military junta. In recent days, human rights activists and political leaders around the world have called for her release—her detention was set to expire Sunday—but, sadly, news comes today that her house arrest has been extended by yet another year. The question remains: Should travelers visit Burma or stay away?

Days ago, the Times Online (UK) published thoughtful opposing views.

Thant Myint-U argues that tourism promotes positive change, writing: “[T]ourism can help to bring in the fresh air so desperately needed. Together with the satellite dishes now mushrooming across Rangoon and Mandalay, it is this greater interaction with the outside world that will unravel the status quo. If the Government one day bans tourism again, it will be because it understands its subversive potential.”

Meanwhile, Mark Farmaner insists travelers should stay away.

“The moment the wheels of your aircraft touch the runway in Rangoon,” he writes, “you are putting money in the pockets of one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships.”

Writing about Burma and San Suu Kyi for World Hum in 2005, Ethical Traveler’s Jeff Greenwald called for concerned citizens to boycott companies that trade with the regime, and to avoid doing business with travel outfitters that romanticize the country.

He also advised:

For those who seek deeper insight into the situation by visiting Burma itself, preparation is the key. Although Daw Suu Kyi discourages travel to Myanmar, some Burma activists feel that educated, individual travelers can be a powerful force for advocacy and citizen diplomacy. Certainly, my 2002 visit to Burma had a profound impact on my own perceptions about the country and its people.

Ethical Traveler’s Candles for Burma campaign is ongoing.

Photo by amsfrank via Flickr, (Creative Commons).