UK tour operators selling holidays to blacklisted Burma resorts

http://news.carrentals.co.uk/uk-tour-operators-selling-holidays-to-blacklisted-burma-resorts-3425131.html

Thursday 19th of February 2009

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Loading ... Posted on: February 17th, 2009 by Martin Fellowes
More than a dozen Britain-based tour operators are in breach of a European Union blacklist, by selling holiday packages at resorts in Burma that are owned by individuals linked to the country’s repressive military regime.

It is estimated that tourism is earns the generals who run the country approximately £180 million annually, and that a large percentage of that amount derives from the UK.

Many leading resorts in Burma are owned by the state, which leases the properties to investors. It has been alleged that numerous resorts caused the forced displacement of entire villages, with residents receiving negligible or no compensation – and that they were built using slave labour.

UK tour operators that were contacted by The Observer, including Bamboo Travel and Undiscovered Destinations, indicated that they were not aware that the resorts they sold were on a blacklist. Many said they felt it important for outsiders to visit the troubled country.

Tricia Barnett, who is the director of Tourism Concern, says in a report on the Burmese travel industry due to be published this week: “It is the responsibility of tour operators to ensure that they … do not provide financial benefits to the military dictatorship. Given the lack of transparency in Burma and the overlap between state- and private-owned enterprises, the best way to do this is to stop trading with Burma.”

Thanks to www.guardian.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.tourismconcern.org.uk