NO, DON'T VISIT . . .

Source : The Far Eastern Economic Review
07-07-01

I write in response to Sandra Rosic's letter, Do Visit [Jun. 21]. I live in a country from where come many of the Western tourists to Burma. The Burmese are wrong to place their hopes in tourists. Tourists come to relax, not to probe Burmese politics. I have yet to meet a German tourist returning from Burma who tells me anything other than that everything was okay, that they saw no military and that there were hundreds of nice pagodas.

There is a huge difference between theory and reality. The reality is that tourism doesn't support local people in the long term. However, it does strengthen military rule. And this cannot be the long-term wish of the Burmese people.

HEIKO SCHAEFER
Karlsruhe, Germany

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