Lonely Planet’s CEO, Stephen Palmer comments that their Burma guide enables travellers to make a choice to visit the country or not. He says that no-one reading the guide could be in doubt about Lonely Planet’s own position about the current regime, which they describe as being “Abominable”.
“Our aim in publishing this guide is to provide objective information to help travellers make informed decisions about whether or not to visit Burma. No one reading our guide could be in any doubt about our opinion of the current regime, which we describe as “abominable”.
“We do not accept the view that publication of a guide to Burma encourages people to visit the country for tourism purposes. People make the decision to go for themselves and would go irrespective of whether we produced a guide or not. Lonely Planet’s Burma guide outlines the arguments both for and against visiting the country: without such information travellers could make the decision to visit Burma without being aware of the situation in the country.”
“The first chapter of the guide presents objectively the issues and starts with the question ‘Should You Go?’ It includes the views of Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burma Campaign UK, details of activist websites, shows how the regime profits from travellers, and, for those who do decide to go, information that enables travellers to maximise their support for the local population, and minimise the prospect of any money which they might spend going to the military regime. When such travellers return, we encourage them to speak out about what they have seen, to write to the local Burmese embassy and to share their experience with others, perhaps by participating in Lonely Planet’s own discussion forum, the Thorn Tree.”
In conclusion our decision to publish is not a show of support for the current regime and we fully support the aims of the restoration of democracy in Burma. We do not, however, believe that you create new freedoms by stifling information or banning books.
Stephen Palmer
Chief Executive – Lonely Planet
