ALTERNATIVE NETWORK LETTER

A Third World Tourism Communication

And Infonnati'on Alternative

Vol. 2 No.2 For Private Circulation Only May 1986

HE issue of Third World Tourism is" in traditional parlance Coalition, Tourism Ecumenical European Network and the World

T 'hotting up: New and fascinating facets are emerging, and today,
more than ever before, it is being recognised as something that
touches peoples' lives in deep and intimate ways.
One way by which this recognition is accorded is the gathering of
concerned individuals and groups at local, national and international
- conferences where tourism is a central concern. In early December
1985, at Khonkaen, northeast Thailand, nearly 20 persons met to
establish a spiritual-theological basis for tourism-related issues. This
- was sponsored by the Ecumenical Coalition on Third World Tourism,
.3angkok.
Council of Churches, it was an unique event. For the first time in
history, tourism professionals were brought face to face with the
'victims' of tourism - representatives of common people in the
developing world who live daily with the reality of tourism next door.
An effort was made to create healthy dialogue, thus leading to ways
in which the'industry could meet host people on equal terms.
In June, there will be another meeting in Paris, around the theme 'The
Social and Cultural Impact of International Tourism in Question:
Interdisciplinary Responses This has been highlighted in our
earlier issue.

At Draveil, France, 80 persons from Europe, Africa,

Latin America and Asia met at the invitation of 1,.-... ------- 1
c

Development Tourisme, a Paris-based organisation, to answer the

question :'HON can Third World Tourism be a starting point for human
rel�ltions and positive development for host nations?'
Later, at a very different gathering, more than 150 people met at the
American University Alumni Center, Bangkok, marking the second
anniversary of the Phuket fire which killed 5 women in a southern
Thailand brothel on 30 January 1984, some of whom were chained
to their beds that night. IV. the panel discussions that follOlNed a
videotape of the event, panelists included representatives of the
Tourism Authority of Thailand, a woman MP, academicians and
activists. Both the discussions and participants were nearly all Thai.
A detailed report of the tragedy is carried elsewhere in this newsletter.
........
... ...
But, before that, and closer to home, EQUATIONS is
organising a Workshop on the 'Future of Tourism in
India and its Implications: at Bangalore, 25 to28 May 1986. By the
time this is published, about 30 people from all over India will be
meeting to discuss and respond to issues of tourism in India, to find
practical means whereby Indian tourism can be transformed into a
positive, powerful force for the people who live and work in tourist
areas.
Conferences are good. They are essential, in fact, to create a sense
of urgency about issues that often go unrecognised. But, they are not
the be-all and end-all. 'We need to go beyond, to act. That this action
calls for sacrifice - for some, more than others - is undoubted. Such
sacrifice, however, is a very small price to pay for what we seek to
achieve.

More recently, at Bad Boll, West Germany, about 140 people from
Europe, America, Japan and the Third World met at the Conference­
Third World People and Tourism. Sponsored by the Ecumenical

A HANDYMAN'S GUIDE FOR TOURISTS

F
------- by Rajan Narayan -------...;.....-

',Ou are travelling to Goa from Bombay or Bangalore or Timbaktu and your rum and your brandy, drink it neat. A peg of feni will cost

I do not take an air-conditioned video bus. In all probability, the air-

conditioner or the video or both will not work. If you are travelling
by air do not take the flight till you have a confirmed return ticket.
only Rs.2 but the Limca you drink with your feni will cost you Rs.3.
If you are looking for a low budget holiday, do not come to Goa.
The cost of living in Goa is as high as the cost of living in Bombay.
And even if you have a confirmed returned (sic.) air ticket back, (0wrleiI)
reconfirm it on arriving.

If you are looking for spiritual protection do not drink coconut feni
in Goa. There is no coconut feni. There is only jaggery liquor. Nobody
wants to climb up the coconut tree any longer. For that matter, you
would be well advised not to drink caju feni either. The only thing
caju about most caju feni is the caju essence.

In fact, just do not drink. If you must drink your feni and your whisky

Contd. from , and gape at the other tourists in bikinis and trunks you should permit
The cost of becoming an alcoholic or developing cirrhosis of the liver
is of course, low.
,
If you do decide to come to Goa, ask yourself if you are honestly
quite content to swim and sunbathe and eat fish curry. If you are a
vegetarian, stay away from Goa. Goans believe that fish is vegetarian
and even if you are vegetarian and you cannot stand spicy food, do
not come to Goa. Even the masala dosa tastes like hot spicy
inflammable Goan curty - Goan fish curry that is.
And if you come to Goa by bus or steamer or rail or air and want
to be taken for a ride you only have to go around with the first tout
who approaches you. He will promise you air-conditioned five star
accomodation at Rs.50 and take you to the government dormitory
at Britona. He will promise you a luxury sightseeing tour in an air­
conditioned video bus and stuff you into a tempo packed like sardines.
He will promise)Uu the best feni in tCM'n and keep you high on methyl
spirit. Go to the tourism department instead. They may mislead you
but will not cheat you.
The Goans are a fun-loving' people. But they are not dancing in the
streets all the time. Goans are a fun-loving peopl e but they are not
always entertaining themse ves or entertaining tourists. So be prepared
to ente rtain yourself. Except during Christmas and Carnival. But if you
c ome to Goa during Christmas or New Year, please remember that
all the best dances are formal dances and remember to bring your
jacket along. Because T-shirts and Christmas and New Year are
incompatihie.
Cinderalla had to rush home at the stroke of twelve. If you are a tourist
in Goa you better get re ad y to ru sh back at the stroke of seven. After
8:00 p.m. there are no public buses in G oa . You are, of course,
welcome to take a tourist taxi. But that will cost you as much as your
air fare to Bombay.
If you do go to the beaches for God s sake please leave your safari
'
suit and your dark glasses and your pink trousers or your sari back
in your hotel or in your l odge . It is only fair that if u wish to gaze
2
them to gaze at you in tum. Nothing is more ridiculous than walking
around on the beach with all your clothes on. The only thing more
ridiculous is to walk around the beach with all your clothes off, if
you have a pot belly and' are forty.
Girls are not availabte in Goa. If you want a woman to go with your
wine bring her along with you. The Goans are fun-loving and
hospitable people but they are a very deeply conservative people.
We do not like our honoured guests to covet either our wives or our
daughters. If you want to break the Ten Command ments, do it in your
home town, not in Goa.
There is a lot more to Goa than Panjim city and the Anjuna beach.
I
There are games (sic) sanctuaries at Molem and Bondla. There are
fantastic picniC spots like Mayem lake and Tiracol. A nd there are hotels
which are inexpensive and excel le nt in other parts of Goa th an Panjim
and Bardez. So spread yourselves out and do not encroach on the
water supply in Panjim ..
Come to Goa, come to Goa on a Goan holiday. But if you wish to
be treated like honoured gue st s, behave yoursel f. We are a fun-lCJv'ing
people and a peaceful people. But there is a limit to our patienc
(Courtesy: GOA TODAY, November 1985)
du I"'S In
Uilding contractor is working by floodlight in a drive to open
Colombo's first striptease hotel and b rin g the city nearer
becoming one of Asia's top sex capitals to rival Bangkok.
Sri Lanka traditionally has been sold to foreign visitors as a paradise
isl and , with dusky village maidens smili ng out of glossy brochures.
Today, the focus is on boys as well as girls - indeed, Colombds kn<M'n
male prostitute population far exceeds fem ales .
With cheap drugs and high society gambling too, the ity is heavily
advertised in European travel magazines offering package sex tours.
Colombo's new boom industry i s sex. In a to u ri s t resort area about
15 miles south of the city, police found 'one of every six hotel
employees was a male prostitute. Police records say there are 1,5
male prostitutes in Co lom bo. ./
An interna tional homosexual guidebook, Spartacus, published in West
Germany describes Sri Lanka as a 'Gay Paradise' and lists stree t names,
,
locations and telephones number s for homosexual contact s .
Health authorities in Colombo, which has a population of 5,00,000,
fe a r an outbreak of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
An investigation by the Weekend Sun newspaper revealed that top
fashion models, high society married women, schoolboys and rugby
players were on call 24 h ou rs in many of Colombo's top tourist hotels.
Police deputy inspector-general, Heema Weerasinghe said the police
department was not to blame for the s it uation . 'We have very limited
resources, and most of our men are busy investigating more serious
crime', he said.
/Mapted (rom COMPASS repon in Travel Scene Asia, August 1985)
 3

Oetting up And About

HY does a man travel when his mind freely roams the
TOURISM STATISTICS
7 million fOurists
- T
expecte!d to rrlW! durin, 1986-87, Dr N K
Puzzle
W world? The question was asked 3000 years ago and
were four answers supplied. The first was that the very act
of traVel hardens and educates him. The second was that the rld was
there

5enrupta, D/ I 01 Tourism, Union Gc7"emment, staiec1ln

• JnSS conference at Calcutta on May 19, 1986. Also 1985-86, wi". entitled to know how magnificent he was and what a duffer he could
.mvals 0/ V5 lakhs, ff!COrded Ii 9.6 increase eNer 1984-85 (8 Ukh • be at times. The third, and one that would be accepted more readily
It I nol clear whether these fi,uff?S include nationals 01 Pakistan and by all p resent , was that a fellow had to get ;may from his wife once
s.n,tMJesh. CicM!mment tistics a.er the past 5 )6115 display OIiiOuJ in a while and there was no way he could dream her fIWirY, hO\\1!ver
fetJtJHc:y of sometimes includln, nationals of these countri8, hard he might 't'JOrk at the exercise. As mentioned earlier, there was
anetimes etClutii", them, both 1n caJruJatins Mri-..ls ilS well as foreiJlf
a fourth as well, and it was rather like the third in reverse. It asked
8minss (rom tourism. For instance, In 1981, arrival f#SUIf!S
Include thefe nationals, wh; foreill' eami", figures exclude them. how a good woman might have some rest and recreation save when
ta, chan,es CNer 7987 are equally InconsistelJt. her h..Jsband's back was turned and how would it be turned that way
(eI: Jburist 5t.itistk:s, 7983) save when he mC1Jed from here to there and from there to everywhere.
Nobody thought of the fifth and to our mind the most realistic reason:
that a man just had to have something to do and travel brought up
to surface all his reserves of intelligence, energy, ingenuity and what­
have-you, if any you have, w hatever that means if it means anything
THE PHUKET TRAGEDY
N
at all. Since when these wise 't'JOrds were almost mentioned but
weren't, in good or bad faith, all journeying has become less of a
our editorial, we briefly described the meeting in February at

I
picnic and more of a hassle. You have to have documents with stamps
Bangkok, commemorating the Phuket fire that claimed 5 lives
thereon; you need to pay duty here and there to anyone who might
in 1984. Although it gained international attention, in Indian
be on duty; and you are required to weigh your things before a
newspapers it merited a couple of small paragraphs, if at all. Thus,
concerned official so that he would be a little less concerned. And
we are highlighting the case for the benefit of our readers.
wherever you go you pay through the nose which temporarily
Jan uary 3D, 1984, Phuket, Southern Thailand interferes with your breathing. So let your mind travel, not you.

The fire began from Koleng Brothel, w here 5 women were burnt alive. (Source: THE TIMES 11 April 1985)
The women were asleep after a full night's work, and they were locked­
in by the chained iron gates of the brothel. Some of them were chained
.
to their beds.

There were an estimated 10,000 prostitutes in Phuket at the time, in

a hundred major brothels. Most of the girls came from the wh
impoverished no rth and northeast regions.
Tourism ;s a loose label for a numbtN 01 economic concems.
The owner, Mr KE>leng, and three others, 'Nere tried in cou rt. On 'Handicrafts' /5 an Industry that features highly in Places such
30 December 1985, the verdict was given: life imprisonment for as Bhuta n and ma ny aspects of. 5e/v;ces have e'Xpdnded as a
,

Koleng, 3 years imprisonment for his wife, 21 years for the chief pimp, result of tourism, fM?fJ if they are not directly re lated to it. The
and 10 years for another pimp. und and third senerations Of infrastructural imrestment
Inspite of the shock expressed worldwide, business stil l carries on required to. maintain a tourist industryca.n. pe quite large. Longer
oday as usual, if only in a new guise: they are called 'restaurants' runways t airpot1S, full metallin g on roads, imprr:Ned telephone
rathe r than brothels. systems aU benefit the economy in general and may ha'\le been
stimulated br tourism. Bt,Jt they have to be pai d for.
The fire took pla e on the eve of the Chinese New Year when business
normally booms, and when many more women \Yere there to entertain One feature of the Caribbean tour; r industry is the crui
customers from Malayasia and Singapore. An old woman eyewitness passenger. T third of these are from the US and they
stated that she often heard moaning and sharp cries coming from contribute even less In the way of revenue than do the 's r
Koleng's p l ac e long before the fire, but nobody seemed to
, care. tourists. Antlsua is one of the places that is poSitively moving
out of the cruise market, but other places, such a the US Vi in
The dead were burnt b eyond recognition and identification.
Island I have easily moved in to take its Rlace. BatWdo on
The Governor of Phuket, in press interviews said: 'It is the greatest of the earliest ttl to latch onto tourism, has suffered a a
loss in 10 yea rs. Not only the property in the 5 ac res but also the , consequence. Its CNef development ha become a deterrent,
death of 9 persons. and the communication established there are now u5ed by
other island. The suit 01 the changes ha been a 10 S of
W hen cornered about the death of the prostitutes, he said: 'Oh, there
emplayment and the development plan st. res tha t the role 0
are so many of them, and most do it vol u n ta r i l y.. We have tried to
tourism has to be subordinate to national y.elfare need .
suppress prostitution. The deaths should be a good lesson for them:
8rian Botton n
(Adapted (rom Koson Srisang, ECTWT. Thailand)
 invite Network members to contribute to the Network Letter
NETWORK
by sharing their 'WOrk ideas and plans through these pages.
NEWS Communication is vital to the life of a NetwOrk especially when
ROUNDUP physical distances cannot easily be bridged by closer contacts.

D'alroog Sarasooll (IJantO, 1ba1Iand TEN (1'ouIUm l!cumenlcal Europe4lJ Networll), UK

Dang is promoting a Voluntary Guide Service for visitors to Thailand. Roger Milman and Andrew Hutchinson, the prime movers of the
Students oarticipate in this programme as friends, rather than business­ network in the· UK, have negotiated for support from funding agencies
people. Visitors get to know the land from the eyes of local youth, for an ambitious research project. This involves documenting the
while they share their culture and language in return. Membership tourist trade from the UK, analysing data relating to both ends of the
costs 50 Baht annually, and the service is free of cost in Bangkok, market, i.e. travellers themselves, as well as destinations. Since both
while a fair daily allowance and expenses are payable outstation. Roger and Andrew are otherwise engaged fulltime, the search is on
for competent research staff.
Dang also helped ECTWT with the Khonkaen conference on Tourism
and Theology last December. In Bangkok, telephone 579-5524 MlJureen Senevtratne and Harry HIJIU, Sl'I Lanlla
Extension Dang Inspite of the dwindling tourist trade in the island, this indomitable
duo is venturing forth. Their latest effort is a 'guide to take time with'
Bernd Slb/tz, .Austr1a
entitled MEET SRI LANKA AND YOURSELF (tentative). This guide is to
Bernd is no longer with the Austrian Information-service for
enable visitors to 'more fully experience and understand' feelings and
Development. His new job deals with public relatio"ns problems in
reactions, as well as general information on Sri Lanka.
different producti'le enterpriS€s. His interest in Tourism issues, however,
continues. He can be contacted at: c/o Publico, Mautner Write to them at Exchange Tra\oel, 9 Perera Road, Bandarewela, Sri Lanka.

Markhofgasse 45, 1110 Vienna, Austria.

Snv. Holland
We were hclppy to renew contact with friends from SIW after the
March meeting at Bad Boll. Marco de Lange now works as an
accountant. When last heard of, Ties Boerma is a proud parent. Ties
is with WHO, Nairobi, Kenya.
SIW has succeeded in obtaining government funds for an investigative
project on whether it is possible to educate mass tourists in the
Netherlands. Naturally, this invol'les extensi'le contact with the tourism
trade. For details, write to Frans de Mon, Tooropstraate 52, Nijmegen,
Holland.
Resources
1. SEE THE THIRD WORLD WHilE IT LASTS:
The Social and Environmental Impact of Tourism with spec ial
references to Malayasia, CAP, 1985)
Publlsned by Consumers' Association (author: Evelyn Hong), this is an
excellent analysi of tourism in the Third 'M:>rld from an Asian, particularly
Mdlaysian perspective Starting from the Global situation, the book looks
more closely at the socio-e<:onomic consequences of tourism in Malaysia,
its effects on environment ;lnd ('Jill/re, also documenting specific instances
, of sex touri5m. 'International tourism fulfils the needs of individuals in a de-
ulturalised society, needs which have been artificially created as a result
of the partic lar way of life and the consumption it brings with it'.
Available wilh CAP, 87 Canlonment Road, f'enang, Malaysia.
In India, (rom Thild \M:)rld etwork, M-139 Coa Housing Board Colony,
Alto Belim 4U3 112, COil. Pri( . Rs. 35/- (postage inclusive).
2. FIVE STAR BUBBLE. CAMERA. Bombay, 1986.
India's first audio-visual resource, this slide show has just been produced
by the Cadre for Media Resources and Action (CAMERAl. Bombay. Goa
Research Institute for Development (GRID) and EQUATIONS, Bangalore,
c lIaborated at various stages of its production. Although we have not seen
it t, we hope it might be premiered at the 'M:>rkshop on the Future of
Tourism in India and its Implications, May 1986, Bangalore.
Details from Mr Philip Padachira, Director; CAMERA, Documentarion Cenrre,
19 Hazarimal Somani Mar& Forr, Bombay 400 007, India.
Parewe1l1
The EcumenJcaJ Coalition on Third rld 7burlsm. Bangllok.
bade lareweJJ to its outgoing Executive Secretary, The Rev. John
Peter Holden. at the end of March this year.
Peter. who has gWded the office of the Coalition SInce Its
formation four years ago. now joins the Australian Council of
Churches. as l:xecutive Secretary of ilS merseas dere/opmenl
unit IbrId ChJfstian Acl1on.
MembeIS of the network who know him {iersoMJ1y. ..m ta'*'
to his rare ablli of charlsmarJc leadership combined with
genuine humanit)t EQUATIONS 0\reS much to his peTSOlJlll
Interest in our dereJopment. and we look foNfJl'd to contInUed
contact with Peter.
ChByant Pholpo1le. IDe 1JlAW!l.. Jroll
Now in its fourth year of operation, Chayant feels that LIFE TRAVEL
needs some changes, both in the organisation, as well as in the tours
it offers. Already equipped with a micro-computer ('it is a gift, we
can't afford one really' ) LIFE TRAVEL hosted a major tour for supporters
'
of the Australian funding agency - Community Aid Abroad - early
this year. Chayant's new telephone number is 215:..8922(in Bangkok},
while visitors to Chiangmai can contact (053) 241367.
Paul Go . I!(}UATlONS. IndkJ
In December, Paul attended the Khonkaen meeting on Theology of
Tourism. Following that, he visited Malaysia and Thailand to gain an
indepth understanding of alternati'le tourism programmes: Village Stay
Programme in Malaysia, and Life Travel, Thailand. The purpose is to
produce a handbook on different models of peoples' involvement in
tourism. More news on the handbook later.

Published by: Equitable Tourism Options (EQUATIONS), 10, Heerachand layout, leevanahalli. COl( Town, Bangatare 560 005, INDIA.
Editorial Committee: Sam Prem kumar (Sri Lanka) and Rajan Alexander (India)
Design and Plwwtyptseuing: Revisuality Digitised Typesetting and Graphic Design, 4211 lavelle Road, Bangalore, India.