Some people are asking tourists not to go to Burma at present. They're not extremists but a democratically elected party that won a general election for a parliament that has never been allowed to convene. These people - the National League for Democracy, led by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi -specifically ask visitors to stay away until the brutal military junta which rules the country allows them to take up their rightful place in government.
About 8m men, women and children are forced to labour on construction projects, including those linked to tourism, every year, according to estimates given to the UN International Labour Organisation. And hundreds of thousands of Burmese people have been forcibly relocated from their homes in order to develop the country's infrastructure, much of it created to boost tourism. And what is the response in Britain to these horrors? Many individuals, some tour operators and the UK government have respected the call not to visit Burma. The British foreign minister John Battle and the late Derek Fatchett have played an admirable role, and have urged tour operators to heed the NLD's request. But amazingly, many in the media and the travel industry have argued vociferously for tourism to Burma to continue.
"Is it really such a crime to seek out somewhere where you can simply enjoy yourself?" wrote another Guardian columnist Dea Birkett. She was reacting to a campaign asking people not to buy Lonely Planet books until they withdraw their new Burma guide.
"It's censorship!" say Lonely Planet and Birkett, bizarrely. They should understand that in Burma many who have questioned the regime are languishing in prison, including San San who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence after she participated in a BBC radio interview. Aung San Suu Kyi's personal doctor and family friend died in prison after being found guilty of owning a fax machine.
The Burma guide contains misleading inaccuracies and a loaded debate about ethics which concludes that "the positives of travel to [Burma] outweigh the negatives". But Lonely Planet, unlike many Burmese publishers, is at complete liberty to continue to publish ad infinitum if they really want to. People will make up their own minds.
Critics of the boycott campaign also question where to draw the line - China, Indonesia, and Turkey all have terrible human-rights abuses, they rightly point out. But they forget that the democracy movements within those countries have not asked for a travel boycott. The Dalai Lama, for instance, has said he feels tourists should witness the oppression in Tibet. But in Burma we have been asked by those who lead the movement for democracy to stay away. How can we justify placing our opinions higher than theirs?
Lonely Planet insist that publishing their guide, given current low visitor numbers, is financially disastrous. But it is of course astute business sense in the long run. When tourism to Burma does increase, their up-to-date guide will be waiting to drop into millions of backpacks. As Aung San Suu Kyi herself has said: "Guide book writers should listen to their consciences and be honest about their motivations. Profit is clearly their agenda."
I was lucky enough to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, after travelling under cover of a tourist visa obtained in Bangkok. Her courage and heroism is breathtaking. She is a remarkable woman, with a fierce determination to bring about freedom in Burma, and a phenomenal sense of calm given the personal suffering she endures. She and the NLD are trying to work out non-violent strategies.
One night, I found a scrap of paper on my pillow in my hotel bedroom in Rangoon. It was inscribed with her name - nothing more. It had presumably been put there by a brave hotel worker, trying to communicate support for her to me. That simple act took infinite courage. The Burmese people want freedom from a regime of killings, rape, genocide and the perpetration of relentless misery. We must respond to this terrible human suffering.
Aung San Suu Kyi asks a simple thing. She hasn't asked for us to be courageous, she hasn't asked for money, she hasn't asked for military help. She's asked for sanctions so that the junta will be starved out of existence. We can impose our own sanctions and not go on holiday to Burma. And we should certainly not buy from publishers that suggest we should.
· Glenys Kinnock is Labour MEP for South Wales East
