Visit Myanmar Year

In the early to mid-1990s, Myanmar was ruled by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), a military junta.{{Cite web|title=Myanmar September-December 1996|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/asa160011997en.pdf|access-date=April 7, 2025|website=Amnesty International}} Under the SLORC, human rights abuses were rampant, dissuading tourists from visiting Myanmar.{{Cite web|title=Burma (Myanmar)|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/WR95/ASIA-01.htm#:~:text=The%20State%20Law%20and%20Order,denials%20of%20freedom%20of%20association%2C|access-date=April 7, 2025|website=HRW}} Compared to neighboring countries like Thailand, which brought in millions of tourists per year, Myanmar averaged about 200,000 tourists per year.{{Cite web|date=November 19, 1996|title=BURMA: TOURISM ENCOURAGED WITH LAUNCH OF "VISIT MYANMAR YEAR 1996"|url=https://newsroom.ap.org/editorial-photos-videos/detail?itemid=dbcddb079702c1d52a9c223254932545&mediatype=video&source=youtube|access-date=April 7, 2025|website=Associated Press}} Although tourism had overtaken staples of Myanmar's economy like rice in terms of money generated, it still was lacking and did not generate much money.{{Cite journal|last=F. Guyot|first=James|date=February 1997|title=Burma in 1996: One Economy, Two Polities|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2645487.pdf|access-date=April 7, 2025|journal=Asian Survey|volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=188–193 |doi=10.2307/2645487 |jstor=2645487 }} To combat the negative image of Myanmar due to their human rights abuses, Myanmar used the release of popular democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in 1995 with a year in which tourism would be promoted, called Visit Myanmar Year, in 1996.{{Cite journal|last=P. Callahan|first=Mary|date=February 1996|title=Burma in 1995: Looking Beyond the Release of Aung San Suu Kyi|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2645813.pdf|access-date=April 7, 2025|journal=Asian Survey|volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=158–164 |doi=10.2307/2645813 |jstor=2645813 }}{{Cite web|last=Thett|first=Ko Ko|date=2012|title=Responsible Tourism in Myanmar: Current Situation and Challenge|url=https://www.burma-center.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Responsible-Tourism-in-Myanmar-Current-Situation-and-Challenges-xxs.pdf|access-date=April 7, 2025|website=Burma Center}}

File:Mandalay Palace, Myanmar.jpg

In 1990, Myanmar passed the Myanmar Tourism Law, which limited the government monopoly on the tourism industry, and instead allowed for private companies to oversee hotels and transport businesses.{{Cite web|date=June 20, 1990|title=The Myanmar Tourism Law|url=https://www.burmalibrary.org/docs15/1990-SLORC_Law1990-13-Myanmar_Tourism_Law-en.pdf|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=Burma Library}} Three years later, Myanmar passed the Myanmar Hotel and Tourism Law, which established the importance of hotels in the travel industry.{{Cite web|date=October 23, 1993|title=The Myanmar Hotel and Tourism Law|url=https://www.burmalibrary.org/docs15/1993-SLORC_Law1993-14-Myanmar_Hotel_and_Tourism_Law-en.pdf|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=Burma Library}} In order to allow for foreign visitors to enter Myanmar, the SLORC eased restrictions on foreign travel by issuing tourist visas which were valid for one month.{{Cite web|date=January 30, 1997|title=Burma Report on Human Rights Practices for 1996|url=https://1997-2001.state.gov/global/human_rights/1996_hrp_report/burma.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=U. S. Department of State}} However, people such as human rights advocates and political figures were often denied these visas.{{Cite web|date=January 30, 1997|title=Burma Report on Human Rights Practices for 1996|url=https://1997-2001.state.gov/global/human_rights/1996_hrp_report/burma.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=U. S. Department of State}}

In preparation for upcoming tourists, Myanmar sought to restore existing infrastructure and build new amenities to accommodate for the large number of travelers it was expecting. The SLORC widened and paved dirt roads and replaced gold leafs on its pagodas.{{Cite web|last=Erhart|first=Margaret|date=December 15, 1996|title=SEEING MYANMAR AT A STATELY PACE|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/travel/seeing-myanmar-at-a-stately-pace.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The New York Times}} Numerous new hotels were constructed, controversially with the use of forced labor. One estimate gave that between 1993 and 1997, the number of hotels in Myanmar increased from 43 to 450.{{Cite web|last=Michalon|first=Martin|date=June 2017|title=Tourism(s) and the way to Democracy in Myanmar|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317346465|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=ResearchGate}} Some of these new hotels were funded by shady industries, such as in the Inle Lake region, where 35% of new hotels built were funded by a drug kingpin and the corrupt construction sector.{{Cite web|last=Michalon|first=Martin|date=June 2017|title=Tourism(s) and the way to Democracy in Myanmar|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317346465|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=ResearchGate}} Two new domestic airlines started service in Myanmar, and a new airport arrival hall was opened in Yangon.{{Cite web|last=Mydans|first=Seth|date=December 15, 1996|title=Weighing The Ethics Of a Trip|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/travel/weighing-the-ethics-of-a-trip.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The New York Times}} Tourist sites were also refurbished, many of them with the help of forced labor. In Bagan, Yozo Yokota, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, reported in 1995 that forced labor was being used to refurbish the site.{{Cite web|last=Mydans|first=Seth|date=December 15, 1996|title=Weighing The Ethics Of a Trip|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/travel/weighing-the-ethics-of-a-trip.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The New York Times}}{{Cite journal|last=J. G. Parnwell|first=Michael|date=December 1998|title=Tourism, Globalisation and Critical Security in Myanmar and Thailand|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1467-9493.1998.tb00260.x|access-date=April 8, 2025|journal=Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography|volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=212–231 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9493.1998.tb00260.x }} Yokota also reported that similar actions took place in the construction of new railways and a new airport in Pathein.{{Cite journal|last=J. G. Parnwell|first=Michael|date=December 1998|title=Tourism, Globalisation and Critical Security in Myanmar and Thailand|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1467-9493.1998.tb00260.x|access-date=April 8, 2025|journal=Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography|volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=212–231 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9493.1998.tb00260.x }} In Mandalay, the golden palace was also restored by forced laborers, with citizens being conscripted three days a month on restoring the palace unless they could pay a fee.{{Cite web|last=S. Grewal|first=David|date=April 21, 1998|title=Let's Not Go Myanmar|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1998/4/21/lets-not-go-myanmar-pbtbhe-scene/|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The Harvard Crimson}} To make room for renovations and new tourist attractions, some local Burmese citizens were forcibly removed from their homes. One such occurrence was during the construction of the Myanmar Golf Club in Yangon.{{Cite web|date=March 27, 1996|title=DON'T Visit Burma Year 1996|url=https://burmacampaign.org.uk/dont-visit-burma-year-1996/|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=Burma Campaign UK}} To make room for the development, the army first blockaded the area and later arrested one member of each family living in the area, with the remaining families being forced to move to a new town 25 kilometers outside of the city without any compensation.{{Cite web|date=March 27, 1996|title=DON'T Visit Burma Year 1996|url=https://burmacampaign.org.uk/dont-visit-burma-year-1996/|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=Burma Campaign UK}} In total, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions estimated that about one million inhabitants in Myanmar had been expelled from their homes to make room for tourists.{{Cite web|title=Visit Myanmar Year '96|url=https://iisg.nl/collections/tourism/d29-242.php|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=International Institute of Social History}}

File:KhinNyunt cropped.jpg

Visit Myanmar Year was officially started on November 18, 1996, with a ceremony in Yangon. The ceremony was presided over by second-in-command Khin Nyunt, who gave a speech recognizing the significance of tourism and as a display that Myanmar welcomed the rest of the world.{{Cite web|last=Michalon|first=Martin|date=June 2017|title=Tourism(s) and the way to Democracy in Myanmar|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317346465|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=ResearchGate}} The ceremony consisted of a marching band performing the national anthem, flag-bearers, and various dancing girls.{{Cite web|last=Brookes|first=Stephen|title=Visit Myanmar—That's an Order|url=http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-stories/visit_myanmar_thats_an_order_20080904/N2/|access-date=April 9, 2025|website=Worldhum}}{{Cite web|last=Michalon|first=Martin|date=June 2017|title=Tourism(s) and the way to Democracy in Myanmar|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317346465|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=ResearchGate}} Few journalists were present, and those who were felt as if they "had arrived by accident".{{Cite web|last=Faulder|first=Dominic|date=February 2007|title=Fueling Repression or Assisting the Oppressed?|url=https://www2.irrawaddy.com/print_article.php?art_id=6867|access-date=April 9, 2025|website=The Irrawaddy}} One journalist from Japan compared the opening ceremony to those of North Korea.{{Cite web|last=Brookes|first=Stephen|title=Visit Myanmar—That's an Order|url=http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-stories/visit_myanmar_thats_an_order_20080904/N2/|access-date=April 9, 2025|website=Worldhum}} In a piece for the New York Times, Margaret Erhart described her visit to Myanmar in 1996, where she visited Yangon, Mandalay, and Bagan.{{Cite web|last=Erhart|first=Margaret|date=December 15, 1996|title=SEEING MYANMAR AT A STATELY PACE|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/travel/seeing-myanmar-at-a-stately-pace.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The New York Times}} Erhart described the trip favorably, praising the newly constructed hotels and cuisine in Myanmar.{{Cite web|last=Erhart|first=Margaret|date=December 15, 1996|title=SEEING MYANMAR AT A STATELY PACE|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/travel/seeing-myanmar-at-a-stately-pace.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The New York Times}} In an attempt to increase numbers from Visit Myanmar Year, the year was extended for a longer period than intended.{{Cite web|last=Faulder|first=Dominic|date=February 2007|title=Fueling Repression or Assisting the Oppressed?|url=https://www2.irrawaddy.com/print_article.php?art_id=6867|access-date=April 9, 2025|website=The Irrawaddy}}

Tourist activities were heavily regulated with tourists being instructed to not take photos from plane windows as they flew in.{{Cite web|last=Faulder|first=Dominic|date=February 2007|title=Fueling Repression or Assisting the Oppressed?|url=https://www2.irrawaddy.com/print_article.php?art_id=6867|access-date=April 9, 2025|website=The Irrawaddy}} In October 1996, the SLORC reportedly detained tourists who approached Aung San Suu Kyi's home in Yangon and tried to listen to her speech.{{Cite web|date=October 26, 1996|title=VISIT MYANMAR YEAR 1996: "DEAD ON ARRIVAL"|url=https://www.burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199610/msg00269.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=Burma Library}} Tourists who tried to approach her home on University Avenue were pushed away by police, much to their chagrin.{{Cite web|date=October 26, 1996|title=VISIT MYANMAR YEAR 1996: "DEAD ON ARRIVAL"|url=https://www.burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199610/msg00269.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=Burma Library}} After student demonstrations in Yangon, Suu herself was temporarily put back in house arrest.{{Cite web|last=Mydans|first=Seth|date=December 15, 1996|title=Weighing The Ethics Of a Trip|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/travel/weighing-the-ethics-of-a-trip.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The New York Times}} Additionally, a group of foreign bicyclists was detained under the notion that they were spies.{{Cite web|last=Faulder|first=Dominic|date=February 2007|title=Fueling Repression or Assisting the Oppressed?|url=https://www2.irrawaddy.com/print_article.php?art_id=6867|access-date=April 9, 2025|website=The Irrawaddy}}

Myanmar initially expected around 500,000 tourists, but later cut that number down to around 250,000.{{Cite web|date=November 19, 1996|title=BURMA: TOURISM ENCOURAGED WITH LAUNCH OF "VISIT MYANMAR YEAR 1996"|url=https://newsroom.ap.org/editorial-photos-videos/detail?itemid=dbcddb079702c1d52a9c223254932545&mediatype=video&source=youtube|access-date=April 7, 2025|website=Associated Press}}{{Cite web|last=Mydans|first=Seth|date=December 15, 1996|title=Weighing The Ethics Of a Trip|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/travel/weighing-the-ethics-of-a-trip.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The New York Times}} The actual number of tourists who visited varies, but estimates are between 200,000 and 490,000.{{Cite web|last=Selth|first=Andrew|date=February 14, 2024|title=Myanmar: Unknown paradise, timeless treasure or forgotten land?|url=https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/diplomacy/article/myanmar-unknown-paradise/|access-date=April 9, 2025|website=Asialink}}{{Cite web|last=Thett|first=Ko Ko|date=2012|title=Responsible Tourism in Myanmar: Current Situation and Challenge|url=https://www.burma-center.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Responsible-Tourism-in-Myanmar-Current-Situation-and-Challenges-xxs.pdf|access-date=April 7, 2025|website=Burma Center}} While these numbers underperformed expectations,{{Cite web|last=Thett|first=Ko Ko|date=2012|title=Responsible Tourism in Myanmar: Current Situation and Challenge|url=https://www.burma-center.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Responsible-Tourism-in-Myanmar-Current-Situation-and-Challenges-xxs.pdf|access-date=April 7, 2025|website=Burma Center}} they still met or exceeded Myanmar's annual tourism figures at the time.{{Cite web|title=Tourism in Myanmar|url=https://www.worlddata.info/asia/burma/tourism.php|access-date=April 9, 2025|website=WorldData}}

The viewpoints of tourists visiting Myanmar were mixed. Many tourists felt they faced an ethical decision concerning whether to visit Myanmar and by so doing fund an authoritarian military junta. In a piece for the South China Morning Post, Fionnuala McHugh said that she "did not relish" the fact that she would be funding a corrupt government or walking down roads constructed by slave labor.{{Cite web|last=McHugh|first=Fionnuala|date=January 28, 1996|title=1996 is Visit Burma Year ... would you go?|url=https://www.scmp.com/article/147697/1996-visit-burma-year-would-you-go|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The South China Morning Post}} Seth Mydans of the New York Times claimed that there was no way to avoid making a "moral choice" when visiting Myanmar.{{Cite web|last=Mydans|first=Seth|date=December 15, 1996|title=Weighing The Ethics Of a Trip|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/travel/weighing-the-ethics-of-a-trip.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The New York Times}}

Other tourists had warmer feelings about visiting Myanmar for a variety of reasons. In a newsreel from the Associated Press a French and Dutch tourist interviewed stated that they disregarded political reasons for not visiting and instead wanted to see the culture of Myanmar.{{Cite web|date=November 19, 1996|title=BURMA: TOURISM ENCOURAGED WITH LAUNCH OF "VISIT MYANMAR YEAR 1996"|url=https://newsroom.ap.org/editorial-photos-videos/detail?itemid=dbcddb079702c1d52a9c223254932545&mediatype=video&source=youtube|access-date=April 7, 2025|website=Associated Press}} In her piece for the New York Times, Erhart defended her decision to travel to Myanmar because she believed the money she spent would contribute to improving the economy and lives of Burmese citizens.{{Cite web|last=Erhart|first=Margaret|date=December 15, 1996|title=SEEING MYANMAR AT A STATELY PACE|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/travel/seeing-myanmar-at-a-stately-pace.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The New York Times}} In Mydans' piece for The New York Times, a Greek tourist exhibited the same outlook, saying that he'd visited countries with unpleasant governments before and that the money he spent in Myanmar would help the citizens.{{Cite web|last=Mydans|first=Seth|date=December 15, 1996|title=Weighing The Ethics Of a Trip|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/travel/weighing-the-ethics-of-a-trip.html|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The New York Times}} Some locals in Myanmar also exhibited confidence that Visit Myanmar Year would be a success. Bernard Pe–Win, the owner of a hotel in Yangon, believed that the year would be a success because even encouraging foreign citizens to enter the country would be a big step for Myanmar.{{Cite web|last=Gluckman|first=Ron|title=VISIT MYANMAR - NO WAY!|url=https://www.gluckman.com/VisitMyanmar.html|access-date=April 9, 2025|website=Gluckman}}

File:Edgardo Boeninger en Myanmar junto a Aung San Suu Kyi (cropped).jpg

In response to the announcement of Visit Myanmar Year, democratic resistance leader Aung San Suu Kyi led a movement from multiple Non-governmental organizations (NGO's) and human rights groups to boycott traveling to Myanmar during the year.{{Cite web|last1=Hudson|first1=Simon|last2=Miller|first2=Graham|date=2007|title=TRAVELING TO TROUBLED COUNTRIES: ETHICAL PERSPECTIVES ON TOURISM IN MYANMAR|url=https://scholarworks.umass.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/e206fe92-aade-4342-9076-4db2778669c7/content|access-date=April 9, 2025|website=Scholarworks}}{{Cite web|last=Michalon|first=Martin|date=June 2017|title=Tourism(s) and the way to Democracy in Myanmar|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317346465|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=ResearchGate}} Aung San Suu Kyi claimed that any money put into the country would only pay for the SLORC's totalitarian efforts against Burmese citizens.{{Cite web|date=March 27, 1996|title=DON'T Visit Burma Year 1996|url=https://burmacampaign.org.uk/dont-visit-burma-year-1996/|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=Burma Campaign UK}} Suu later went on to say that as long as money keeps coming in to fund the SLORC, there is less motivation for the regime to change.{{Cite web|date=March 27, 1996|title=DON'T Visit Burma Year 1996|url=https://burmacampaign.org.uk/dont-visit-burma-year-1996/|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=Burma Campaign UK}} Suu was joined by Yvette Mahon, coordinator of the Burma Action Group, who claimed that visiting Myanmar would legitimize an autocratic regime and Derek Fatchett, the Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister, who said the price of a holiday in Burma could be someone's life.{{Cite web|date=March 27, 1996|title=DON'T Visit Burma Year 1996|url=https://burmacampaign.org.uk/dont-visit-burma-year-1996/|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=Burma Campaign UK}} In a piece for The Harvard Crimson, David S. Grewal, chair of the Harvard Burma Action Group, advocated against the annual Harvard travel series guidebook for Myanmar due to its use of forced labor.{{Cite web|last=S. Grewal|first=David|date=April 21, 1998|title=Let's Not Go Myanmar|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1998/4/21/lets-not-go-myanmar-pbtbhe-scene/|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The Harvard Crimson}} Some arguments were made against the proposed Myanmar travel boycott, with reasons including that travelling to Myanmar would keep it under international scrutiny and that tourists could better understand the issues in the country if they saw them firsthand.{{Cite web|last=S. Grewal|first=David|date=April 21, 1998|title=Let's Not Go Myanmar|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1998/4/21/lets-not-go-myanmar-pbtbhe-scene/|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=The Harvard Crimson}}{{Cite web|last1=Hudson|first1=Simon|last2=Miller|first2=Graham|date=2007|title=TRAVELING TO TROUBLED COUNTRIES: ETHICAL PERSPECTIVES ON TOURISM IN MYANMAR|url=https://scholarworks.umass.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/e206fe92-aade-4342-9076-4db2778669c7/content|access-date=April 9, 2025|website=Scholarworks}}

Following Visit Myanmar Year, tourist numbers did not increase greatly but nevertheless steadily increased.{{Cite web|title=Tourism in Myanmar|url=https://www.worlddata.info/asia/burma/tourism.php|access-date=April 9, 2025|website=WorldData}} The boycott efforts led by Aung San Suu Kyi had lessened by the 2000s.{{Cite web|last=Michalon|first=Martin|date=June 2017|title=Tourism(s) and the way to Democracy in Myanmar|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317346465|access-date=April 8, 2025|website=ResearchGate}} In 2016, a similar Visit Myanmar Year was planned to mimic the efforts of 1996.{{Cite web|last=Aung|first=San Yamin|date=October 3, 2014|title=Govt Plans 'Visit Myanmar Year' in 2016, Minister Says|url=https://www.irrawaddy.com/business/govt-plans-visit-myanmar-year-2016-minister-says.html|access-date=April 9, 2025|website=The Irrawaddy}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Visit Myanmar Year}}

Category:Myanmar

Category:1990s in Myanmar

Category:1996 in Myanmar

Category:Tourism in Myanmar

Category:Tourism campaigns

Category:Human rights abuses in Myanmar

Category:Boycotts

Category:Aung San Suu Kyi