By Tessa Andrzejczak, Semester at Sea, Spring 2017
Myanmar is a gorgeous country and it was an amazing opportunity to get to see a country that isn’t yet heavily influenced by tourism. Myanmar has the potential to bring in many tourists in the future but if they continue the way they are, their trash is going to make no one want to visit. There is currently no way of controlling the garbage flow in Myanmar. Right now, people either just throw their trash on the ground or burn it and that is not sustainable.
This issue could be seen everywhere but it was most prevalent to me when I went to the Golden Rock Pagoda. The pagoda itself is beautiful and the area around it is breathtaking but there was a bad smell in the air that distracted from the beauty. When I looked over the railing, I understood what where the smell was coming from. It was clear that they have been simply dumping their trash off the railing of the pagoda for years and it is starting to really add up. The smell distracts from the destination already but if it gets any worse, tourists aren’t going to want to visit the area anymore, not to mention the negative impact the trash has on the environment is no good either. Myanmar needs to establish a garbage control system soon before their garbage ruins their county’s opportunity for tourism.
