Is It Ethical to Visit Myanmar in 2024?
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As travelers, we must have a net positive effect on the place we visit. This is travel ethics.
Would your visit to a country bring more benefits than negatives? If yes, it’s ethical to travel, by definition.
With Myanmar mired in ethnic conflict and human rights abuses, let’s take a look at:
- What’s happening and why;
- The case to boycott it;
- The case to travel;
- Does traveling to Myanmar have a net positive effect, i.e. is it ethical?
I went to Myanmar in July 2024. I try my best not to rationalize the ethics of my visit after the fact and remain clear-headed but I realize the limitations of my one human mind.
In other words, I am biased and I know it. I believe that boycotting Myanmar does more harm than good and traveling to Myanmar has a net positive effect. I hope to convince you of that too.
This post is NOT about safety. See what I think about how safe Myanmar is.
Background – What you need to know about Myanmar
I want to set forth 2 main ideas to provide more context to the current political situation in Myanmar.
1. Myanmar is fragmented
The Union of Myanmar is a unitary republic only in name. The regions, states, and self-administered zones are in some cases so different from one another, that they can easily be their own political entities.
Perhaps they should.
Some have their own regional governments, bylaws, languages, customs, police, army, paramilitary organizations, telecommunication services, and even currency.
I mean, just take a look at the Wa State for example. Uses the Chinese Yuan, has its own government, courts, police, uses the Chinese phone network, speaks Mandarin… It’s not Myanmar at all.
I write that to make two points:
- What you read about Myanmar never applies to all of Myanmar. Not even the majority in most cases. What you will read here is no exception.
- There has always been ethnic conflict in Myanmar and this will likely continue for as long as there are major ethnic differences.
2. The Myanmar military has always been a big political player.
The Tatmadaw – the Myanmar Army – is effectively a state within a state.
It has been pulling the strings in Myanmar ever since its Independence in 1948. The first military coup was in 1962, the second one in 1988, the third one in 2021. In between, the Tatmadaw has always kept the ruling power in check and overseen and tacitly approved every move.
Such is the case in Myanmar – the Military controls the governing apparatus.
Even during the “Democratic Period” from 2011 to 2020, 25% of the Parliament was directly selected by the Tatmadaw. Three ministries were headed by military officers. The 2 vice presidents were chosen by and from the Military too.
What’s happening in Myanmar now?
The Military Junta once again took direct control of the country on February 1, 2021. They deposed and detained the highly popular and respected State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint.
All sorts of anti-government campaigns emerged:
- Labor strikes
- Civil disobedience
- Not paying taxes
- Not paying electricity bills
- Pot-banging protests
- Three-finger salute (adopted from the Hunger Games)
- Protest songs
- Boycott of Junta businesses
1) Free the leaders of the protests
2) Reject the military coup
3) Hear the voice of the people
As a response, the Tatmadaw introduced internet restrictions, especially on social media apps, in an effort to limit protest coordination and information leaking to the rest of the world.
Anti-coup protests in the country were responded to with force. The military killed hundreds. As a result, armed insurgencies sprouted up all around Myanmar. Many fled their homes to become resistance fighters.
Fast forward to 2024 and there are ongoing armed conflicts in multiple states. While the belligerents can be summarized as pro-junta (State Administration Council + allies) vs. anti-junta (National Unity Government + allies) the details reveal a humongous amount of different armies, ethnic paramilitary organizations, and local militias.
Holy mangoes, is it complicated and fragmented!
And here is some food for thought:
- How does victory even look like on this map?
- What happens when the Tatmadaw falls?
- Who takes over and how?
- Can the people of Myanmar be certain that a peaceful democratic transition of power will occur when so many independent ethnically diverse armies have shed blood for control and territory?
Frankly, the people who suffer the most are the ordinary citizens. Inflation, drug trafficking, widespread corruption, unemployment, and insecurity are commonplace. The people are desperate.
History of Boycott
Before 2011
Myanmar was the only country on the Responsible Travel boycott list from 2001 until 2011. The boycott was requested by the leader Aung San Suu Kyi herself.
Well, she was de facto in opposition at that time but only because the military junta ignored the result of the 1990 election and continued to rule as they always have.
After 2017
Myanmar enjoyed relative openness to the world after 2011 when a semi-democratic form of government took hold of the country. Optimism was on the rise. Myanmar was moving in the right direction where personal freedoms, civil liberties, and national prosperity existed. Tourists started coming.
Then came the Rohingya Crisis. It was later renamed to the Rohingya Genocide. Rightly so – the military systematically targeted the ethnic Muslim Rohingya people who had been living in Rakhine State for centuries. Thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands fled.
This video by Barbs from Geography Now will give you a quick summary of the issue.
I like Johnny Harris’s deep dive into the reasons why the issue snowballed into genocide. See below:
Tour agencies and independent tourists started to boycott Myanmar again.
I will leave it at that – this (i.e. after the 2021 coup) is not the first time the travel community has boycotted Myanmar. You can be the judge of whether or not this has had any beneficial effect on the Rohingya people who continue to drown in makeshift boats trying to escape literal hell.
The case for boycotting Myanmar
Proponents of the case to boycott Myanmar give 2 main ethics-related reasons for it:
- Foreign arrivals legitimize the murderous and repressive Military Junta Government.
- Tourists’ money goes into the hands of the military and thereafter is used to kill people.
While on the surface both make sense, I’d like to delve just a little deeper into both their practicalities and philosophy.
Does tourism legitimize governments?
Wait, what? You cannot travel to a country if you do not agree with its government?!?
If that’s the case, people who believe in free democracy shouldn’t go to Vietnam, China, or Laos because of their Communist governments. Why is nobody boycotting those countries?
The same faulty logic can be brought to extremes too. Why aren’t we boycotting the US for its immoral indefinite detention of immigrants? Or Japan for its appalling whaling industry? Or Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine… oh, wait…
Oh, it’s about the Myanmar government’s oppressive regime and its persistent human rights abuses. But do you know who else is on the list? Usual suspects like Iran, North Korea, and Russia but also India, Mexico, Turkey, and the Philippines. Tourism powerhouses.
It’s not hard to accept that you don’t need to agree with everything a government does to travel to a country. A government is very often not representative of the average regular people in it.
Myanmar is no exception. I do not support violations of human rights and my traveling to Myanmar does not change that.
How much of your money goes to the Junta?
It depends but you can get it down to as little as necessary.
Your visa fee is unavoidable. The 50 USD is routed through a company in Singapore to avoid international sanctions and then indeed goes into the pockets of military generals (maybe, I don’t know where the money goes exactly or how it’s used, but it definitely ends up with the Tatmadaw).
Then you have taxes and government fees. Well, these are either sunk costs as is the case with hotel registration fees, or again unavoidable as is the case with value-added tax and the like.
Entrance fees to attractions like Bagan and Inle Lake also go to the Junta but are barely collected these days. I didn’t pay for either – nobody asked, stopped me, or checked for tickets.
The entrance fee of 20.000 MMK for the Shwedagon Pagoda is unfortunately in the same category but the monument is so worth a visit, you should be excused for paying.
Similar with other places of interest in Yangon like Botahtaung Pagoda and the National Museum.
Of course, don’t stay in Junta-owned hotels. Don’t buy from Junta businesses. It’s a long list though and it may be hard to avoid at all times.
Hypocritically, the Australian Government condemned the Coup and then spent $2.5 million on Junta-connected hotels. Your 100 USD pales in comparison.
Instead, stay in family guesthouses, buy from street vendors, and use local guides. Being consciously ethical sounds easy on paper but is harder in practice.
Regardless, it is possible to travel to Myanmar and spend in a way that less than 20% goes to the Junta. The majority of your money will go to the kind, hardworking, and currently struggling people of Myanmar.
The case for visiting Myanmar
On top of the not-so-subtle rebuttals of the main “anti” stances above, let me present the 2 main “pro” ones in a classic high school debate fashion:
- Tourism benefits ordinary people much more than it helps the regime.
- Boycotting removes accountability from the military as there are no foreigners to bring news of what’s happening out of the country.
Benefit the locals
In a risk to boringly repeat myself – if you spend your money wisely, you will be helping the Burmese people, not the military.
After 2011, the tourism industry in Myanmar experienced a moderate boom. Hundreds of hotels, tour agencies, guesthouses, and providers of local experiences started businesses. International chains like Novotel and Sofitel provided jobs for hundreds of locals. E-bike rentals, boat rides on Inle Lake, and trekking agencies started offering services.
The tourism industry by definition relies on tourism. After 2017, it was hurt more due to the boycott and less because of the Rohingya Crisis. The worst part is that the boycott did nothing to stop the genocide.
Your traveling to Myanmar now has the potential to keep businesses running. Many have unfortunately already closed. New Bagan and Nyaung Shwe felt almost ghostly with most hotels and resorts closed. Tourism is literally their lifeline and now it’s gone. But it doesn’t have to be.
Accountability
I was surprised just how many of my Facebook friends didn’t know what was happening in Myanmar when I posted about my travels there.
We can’t expect everybody to be up-to-date with the politics of all countries in the world. This is where tourism comes in.
Visitors have the potential to broadcast their experiences and expose others to what’s happening in the country. If nobody scrutinized the regime, it would run even more amok. As Cathy Adams from the Independent put it: “Oppressive regimes can only thrive when nobody is around to argue against them“.
Boycott and you remain ignorant. Travel and you become a force to educate and inspire.
Parting Words
Tourism boycott is a privilege of the wealthy. It makes one feel warm and fuzzy about their ethics but doesn’t actually do anything. Au contraire, it’s detrimental to the local tourism industry.
It doesn’t take much to make your trip a net positive. Interact with the people, do good, spend your money wisely, and share your experiences with the world at large. Your visit to Myanmar can be ethical without major changes to your moral compass.
Tourism is one of the most powerful forces of change. And the loss of it is one of the most powerful forces of stagnation. You don’t have the duty to change but don’t stand in the way of it.
