A human zoo that allows tourists to gawp at the “giraffe women” of the Burmese Kayan tribe has opened near the beach resort of Pattaya, in Thailand.

Tourists used to travel to the northern resort of Chiang Mai to be photographed next to the women, whose apparently elongated necks are wrapped in dozens of brass rings weighing 20lb or more. Now, though, for the cost of a short taxi ride from Pattaya’s resorts and a £4 entrance fee, they can see the women in a new camp at Sattahip. The district’s chief, Narong Thirachantarangkoon, dismissed accusations that the refugees were being exploited. “It’s better than staying in their home region and starving to death,” he said.

Originally from Burma, the women of the Kayan tribe have been paraded before tourists in seven specially built villages for nearly 15 years, but the nature of their relationship with the entrepreneurs who sell the excursions has come under scrutiny from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees after a group of Kayan women who wished to resettle in New Zealand were refused exit visas by the Thai government.

While most British package-holiday operators no longer offer visits to these camps, tourists can easily buy excursions in resorts. Boycotting the visit is not the answer, says Rachel Noble, of Tourism Concern. “Because these people have no rights, they are dependent on tourists to live – take away the tourism and they starve. Pressure is needed to persuade the Thai government either to grant them citizenship or allow them to resettle overseas.”