PETER CAVE: Tourists are flocking to Burma like never before. Visitor numbers are up 20 per cent, despite pleas for a tourism boycott by the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

South East Asia Correspondent Peter Lloyd reports.

PETER LLOYD: There is no disputing the attraction of Burma. It is one of the last unspoilt corners of Asia, boasting old world charm, undiscovered beaches and historic architecture, like that found in the ancient city of Bagan, home to an historic collection of 11 and 12th century Buddhist monuments.

John Koldowski, from the Pacific Asia Travel Association, or PATA, has been monitoring the growth in tourist trade.

JOHN KOLDOWSKI: It's a unique destination. It's one of those places where people are aware of it, obviously, through media reports and the like, and they're thinking, well, I want somewhere different, I want somewhere unspoilt, I want to see Asia the way it was, type of thing.

There's good product there, it's reasonably accessible and you get very good value for money.

PETER LLOYD: But where does that money go? Human rights campaigners, like Debbie Stothard from the group ALTSEAN, say it often lines the pockets of the country's military leaders who have a financial stake in many hotels and other leisure industry businesses.

DEBBIE STOTHARD: It's ironic that holiday-makers, who are fleeing the threat of terrorism in places like Indonesia and Thailand, are going to Burma which is a country controlled by terror.

PETER LLOYD: John Koldowski believes most travellers who visit Burma are aware of the political situation but choose to go anyway.

JOHN KOLDOWSKI: Certainly you expect that to be the case, yes, and these people, again, if that is the case, may well be looking to see it with their own eyes.

What we are focusing on are the grassroots operators, those who rely on tourism flows to stay alive, to actually eat, to pay their bills. Turning off the tap affects them first and certainly hardest and we're very cognizant of the effect on the mum and dad operation, the operators in the street, and so what we're saying is that give them a thought as well.

PETER LLOYD: But it is action, not thought, that Debbie Stothard says will have real purpose in Burma.

DEBBIE STOTHARD: If travellers are that concerned about human rights, and they are aware about the situation in Burma, they should take it upon themselves to take in copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and pass that on to their Burmese hosts.

PETER LLOYD: In Bangkok this is Peter Lloyd reporting for AM.