It has been many years I have had travelling to Myanmar in my mind. And although many things seem to have changed since the first time my curiosity pushed me in this direction, the ethical dilemma of travelling to Myanmar seems to persist: travel to Myanmar knowing that a big chunk of the money we spend will go to the hands of the military junta, or not travel to Myanmar, choose some other, more democratic destination and know where our money goes to?
Well, I guess the moment has come to say that I think this moral dilemma is junk. For many reasons.
The most obvious one being, if you do not travel to Myanmar you will definitely avoid enriching the few already rich, but you will at the same time not make any richer the poor ones. And there are a whole lot of them in Myanmar. The rich ones will manage very well without you, but you can make a small difference for the poor ones.
Secondly, why does the idea of knowing where our money goes come up only when considering a visit to Myanmar or similar destinations, and not, say, Russia? The USA? Switzerland? Where does your money go when you visit countries as the ones mentioned above, or Cuba, Venezuela, Panama, to take yet another part of the world? Are you sure your tourist money is directed to the right persons? I am not. The world is unfair, and if you think your money goes to the right hands when you visit any place, well, I think you may be wrong. You are probably making richer the ones that are already rich. Moreover, every time we buy clothes of well-known brands, iPhones, Nike shoes and thousands of other goods we actively contribute to people being worked out as slaves in the same countries for almost no money. And yet not buying and not traveling are not the solution. Giving rights to people is.
It is not up to the tourist to bring radical changes to the society.  And we should not overrate our importance as travelers. There is so little we can do, offer, even when our suitcase is full of things to give.
So just Go. Once there, I assure you you will have more than a vague idea where your money will be going. Yes, some of it will be channeled where you don’t want it to go, but the global experience will definitely reward you; buying from all those simple, nice people that will approach you and enrich your life in unimaginable ways.  Just remember not to give without a reason. As a traveler, you are a model, and if you give without reason, the next time locals will ask for money without anything in exchange.
Last but not least, don’t forget in the case of Myanmar that the reason the military has opened up the country a bit and seems to be giving certain freedoms (although there is still a long way to go) is the money tourism is bringing in. Your money.