The new edition of The Irrawaddy devotes a number of articles to tourism in Burma. There is Aung Zaw on the “moral minefield“, Dominic Faulder on economics, Sai Silp on Thai tourists, Emma Larkin’s personal reflections, Jim Andrews’ discussion of guidebooks and an outline of an alternative tourist trail. All highly readable and definitely worth a look.
Comments on The Irrawaddy’s coverage are, of course, very welcome.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Burmese Student // Feb 4, 2007 at 2:59 am
This is another good and interesting volume. First of all, I doubt if many tourists know or even care about political situations of Burma. Second, how much of their money goes to the people. It would be nice if communitiy-based and ethical toruisms kinds of travelling are major forms of tourism so that oridinary people can earn income.
Third, in terms of culture, most of my experiences have been that tourists, especially from Europe, North America and Australia, little respect local culture. “Virgin” women seem to be something they have in mind. I am not sure what Aung Zaw means by “exotic” place. I hope he is aware of the critiques of that term. Perhaps, expectation to help local people should not led to ‘brotheling’ the ‘exotic’ land. But to go or not to go is individuals’ decision. Ethical tourism must be in their mind though.
Finally, Burma is a multi-ethnic country. But it is disappointing as aways that discussions on Burma in journals including Irrawaddy focus on Burman and Buddhist perspectives and show the images that reflect Burman and Buddhism alone, even when talking about places in ethnic areas. Remember, this is partly the reason ethnic people, young people of my generation, don’t want to associate themselves with Burma/Myanmar becuase representation of Burma/Myanmar is ethnically and religiously alien to most of them.
2 anonymous // Feb 4, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Aung Zaw asks what tourists can bring to Burma. How about USB flash drives with Torpark loaded onto them? http://www.torrify.com/ At five dollars a piece the drives can provide many Burmese internet users with risk free browsing of banned sites.
Daw Su doesn’t have to worry that Burmese will learn anything from anyone else – most banned sites are run by Burmese themselves.
3 Burma » Blog Archive » Thungran Lottery // Mar 28, 2007 at 7:00 pm
[...] First of all, I doubt if many tourists know or even care about political situations of Burma. Second, how much of their money goes to the people. It would be nice if communitiy-based and ethical toruisms kinds of travelling are major … – more – [...]
4 Burma » Blog Archive » Comment on The Irrawaddy on Burma tourism by anonymous // Mar 29, 2007 at 6:57 pm
[...] . How about USB flash drives with Torpark loaded onto them? http://www.torrify.com/ At five dollars a piece the drives can provide many Burmese internet users with risk free browsing of … – more – [...]
5 Burma » Blog Archive » WTF, Burma? // Apr 2, 2007 at 6:57 pm
[...] 2, 2007 at 2:37 am · Filed under Burma Comment on The Irrawaddy on Burma tourism by Burmese Student First of all, I doubt if many tourists know or even care about political situations of Burma. [...]
6 Changemakers // Jun 3, 2008 at 5:47 am
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