KarmaQuest Ecotourism and Adventure Travel tourism in Myanmar

A U.S. based company, KarmaQuest, is a representative example of potential links between international tourism and women’s economic empowerment in Myanmar. In 2013 and 2014, KarmaQuest sponsored two different 21-day tours, oriented toward women textile arts and crafts enthusiasts, who traveled to villages and artisan workshops in Myanmar to learn about the economy’s traditional methods of hand-loom, silk and lotus-root weaving, handicrafts that are still dominated by women. Traveling to Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay, Inle Lake, Sittwe and Mrauk U, the tour focused on traditional design and production methods in Myanmar, as “influenced by over 2000 years of cultural and trade relationships with neighboring India and South East Asian countries.” The emphasis of the tour, presented in cooperation with Terra Nova Travel, was to not only to provide a unique travel experience, but also to encourage and give status to the weavers who uphold these traditions.