lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

THE PERILS OF MASS TOURISM25Despite the country’s serious problems, there’s a tendency among visitors, expatsand some locals to talk about Myanmar as an ‘unspoiled’ tourist destination, onewhere the atmosphere, values and friendliness of ‘old Asia’ prevail – as fairytale-ishas such an assumption is. One of the reasons for this view is Myanmar’s relativelytiny number of tourist visitors, in the region of 300,000 per year. Contrast that withthe 14 million who descend on neighbouring Thailand annually for their holidays andyou get an idea of how under-developed tourism is in the country.While we met many people who would like tourism to continue to grow, we alsospoke with others, such as Thant Myint-U, author of The River of Lost Footsteps, whotold us of their concerns. ‘For years I’ve tried to advocate tourism, as a way to createjobs for ordinary people and help open up the country,’ says Thant. ‘But now that tourismis beginning to take off and seems set to grow significantly over the coming years, Ithink we need to also have a serious public discussion about both the potential dangersas well as the benefits of mass tourism, learning lessons from the experience of nearbycountries, and looking at concrete options for how tourism might best be managed.’The NLD, who are now cautiously encouraging independent tourists to visit Myanmar,recognise the perils of mass tourism and have urged the government and businessesto avoid further damaging the environment in the process of developingtourism infrastructure.Charity & Direct-AidVolunteerismTourism isn’t going to fix all of Myanmar’sproblems, of course, but there are somesmall things you can do to help during yourvisit. Ask guesthouse owners, agents, teachersand monks about where you can donatemoney for medical or school supplies. Orstop at a village school and ask what materialsthey lack. Often less than $100 can get abook, notepad and pen for everyone needingthem.One remote Chin village we visited inRakhaing State sees occasional tourists,and donations to the village leader had resultedin something they quickly pointedout: a corrugated metal roof on a stilt house.‘Tourists paid for the roof of our school’, theleader told us.Outside of small donations, some NGOsprefer tourists to stick with their trips andleave bigger projects for them. Joel Charnyat Refugees International, who supportstourism in the private sector, told us, ‘I amnot a fan of tourists trying to turn into developmentworkers. Let tourists be tourists.’During research for past editions of thisguide, however, we met several retired travellerswho acted as ‘direct-aid volunteers’.They felt there wasn’t time to wait for aidto reach locals, so they come twice yearly tofund projects on their own. One, who hasbuilt and overseen many new school projects,told us: ‘When I finish one, I only haveto drive 10 minutes to the next village to findanother in need.’ In Tony Wheeler’s BadLands the founder of Lonely Planet writesabout how he and his wife financed the constructionof a 300m wooden bridge connectingthe floating village of Maing Thauk toland at Inle Lake.Another charity-minded traveller told us:‘Never give money. Go in a shop and buy akilo of rice for someone. Ask what they needand get it, not money.’For further information on volunteering,see p 370 .Giving Gifts &DonationsTravellers handing out sweets, pens ormoney to kids on hiking trails or outsideattractions have had a negative impact (asyou’ll certainly see when begging kids followyou around a pagoda). It’s not the bestway to contribute to those in need, andmany locals will advise you not to give tochildren anyway. If you want to hand outuseful items keep this in mind:» Try to give directly to schools, clinics and villageleaders, not kids. A rewarding way to spend a dayis going to a village school, asking a teacher whatPLAN YOUR TRIP RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL