mizzima.com-July 3
It is always wise to take country rankings with a pinch of salt when it comes to friendliness and happiness. And, therefore, when Yahoo Finance rolled around at the end of last month with a ranking of “unfriendly” countries with Myanmar staring at us, we would be wise to exercise a degree of caution. According to the “25 Most Unfriendly Countries in the World” Myanmar joins the ranks of the likes of Congo, Benin and Saudi Arabia with the claim that the country has an “unfriendly reputation”. The Golden Land came in 15. Yahoo attempts to explain: “For our list of the ‘Most Unfriendly Countries in the World, ’we based our ranking on three credible indexes: the Visa Acceptance Index, the Global Peace Index, and the Danger and Safety Index. “Each of these indexes gives us different insights into how friendly or ‘unfriendly’ a country might seem to outsiders. Each country’s score was determined based on a weighted average of its positions in these three indexes. Specifically, the weight distribution was as follows: Visa Acceptance Index: 40%; Global Peace Index: 30%; and Danger and Safety Index: 30%.” But when it comes to Myanmar and friendliness, it’s not the people that are the problem. Chances are, even now in the midst of crisis, the Myanmar people will display their friendliness to foreign visitors. A survey of tourists, if carried out over the last decade, will likely show that Myanmar is one of the friendliest countries in Southeast Asia, even now. However, what this “25 Most Unfriendly Countries in the World” survey does not do is indicate to foreign visitors how a visit to the Golden Land at this time could be construed as support for an ugly and brutal military junta and that it could be argued as having moral implications. But until that crisis is over, a visit to the country now could be viewed as a visit of the ignorant, or worse, a tipping of the hat to the junta that the majority of the country’s citizens want ousted. Read more at: https://www.mizzima.com/article/surprise-myanmar-ranks-poorly-tourist-friendly-ranking
