Travel promotes freedom and understanding -- but human beings being what they are, all too often politics and conflict can get in the way. What do you think about the relationship between politics and travel, and how to reconcile them?

Cover photo: The Interfaith Observer.

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Politics is on the menu in ´ Sicily, Where What’s Not on the Tour Itinerary Is as Important as What Is´

Vito Manzari Contibutor Fyllis Hoffman writes, "it happend all the time with the tour operator Overseas Adventure Travel. I start out expecting to write about the trip itself – in this case, Sicily's Ancient Landscapes & Timeless Traditions"-- and I end up writing about all the things that aren't on the itinerary – what OAT refers to as "learning and discovery." Sure, I wanted to focus on the extensive ruins of the Greeks and Romans from the 8th century BCE; the city market initiated by the…

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How should travelers/travel industry respond to Brunei's barbarism against gays?

Many voices in the civilized world have been speaking out in horrified outrage at Brunei's new edict  decreeing death by stoning for gay sex, and numerous individuals and institutions joining a boycott. Should travelers and the travel industry/media join as well by not traveling to, working with, or covering Brunei, nor other entities associated with it such as the nine luxury hotels in the West owned by its sultan, such as London's Dorchester, the Plaza Athénée in Paris, and the Beverly Hills…

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Cross-border migration and tourism

All across the world - Europe, the United States, Australia, Asia, and elsewhere - immigration and refugees are hot topics. But little attention has been paid to how this issue meshes with the other great mass movement of our era: tourism. An integral part of tourism is the exchange of cultures and the appreciation of the “other”, and the industry is often dependent on "importing” guest workers from abroad, who provide needed services and often also give a sense of the exotic…

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  • Most travel boycotts against countries tend to be grassroots affairs, but this latest one is instigated from the top: China´s government is urging its citizens to stay away from Japan because of comments its new prime minister has made about her country´s reaction to a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, and Japanese travel industry is suffering mightily: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/japan-counts-cost-ch...
    Japan counts cost of China's travel boycott as tensions flare
    Within days of China urging its citizens not to travel to Japan due to a diplomatic dispute, Tokyo-based tour operator East Japan International Trave…
  • And it´s not just U.S. travelers abroad - I´ve lived in the U.K. for a while, and this comes up regularly: https://theweek.com/world-news/americans-traveling-abroad-criticism...
    Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump era
    Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
  • I´m hearing this from my Canadian friends, too, and I can´t say I blame them! https://edition.cnn.com/travel/candians-boycotting-travel-to-united...
    https://edition.cnn.com/travel/candians-boycotting-travel-to-united-states?cid=ios_app
  • Back in the 1980s, lefties from the U.S. would come here in solidarity with the Sandinistas whom they viewed as fighting for the people against the corrupt Somoza dictatorship. Now the Sandinistas have become the corrupt dictatorship, but the Yanks who visit and move here studiously ignore that, just focusing on the positives of the lifestyle: https://www.rawstory.com/nicaraguan-paradise-draws-americans-europe...
    Nicaraguan paradise draws Americans, Europeans despite political strife
    Tucked away in a southern corner of Nicaragua, far from the political persecution of the opposition by President Daniel Ortega, a tiny colony of Amer…
  • I recently came across this interview with Lonely Planet´s Tony Wheeler on the occasion of the brand´s 50th anniversary, and it offers has some interesting insights and observations indeed - including one about politics and travel: https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/lonely-planet-wheeler-ba...
  • Well, this certainly puts another twist on the concept of politics and travel. Could it be something we´ll be seeing more of as the world becomes more polarized? https://www.thestreet.com/travel/el-al-refused-refueling-turkey
  • An interesting and quite varied selection of books on political travel from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/22/top-10-political-trav...
    Top 10 political travel books
    From Beryl Bainbridge in Milton Keynes to Salman Rushdie in Nicaragua, politics has driven many writers’ journeys
  • Having been to a number of places in China, including Peking, Shanghai, and Xian, I find myself uninterested in going back in part due to my distaste for the dictatorship. I was thinking of making a single exception next year for Tibet, but then I read this several weeks ago - same old bullshit: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/03/politics/china-travel-advisory-s...
    https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/03/politics/china-travel-advisory-state-department/index.html
  • Adventure.com recently took a look at the question of whether Uganda's barbaric new anti-gay law might affect tourism to the country - and should it? https://adventure.com/uganda-lgbtq-laws-boycott/
  • As a recovering Floridian, I was interested to catch this just yesterday, taking a look at how the fascist policies of Governor DeSantis may or may not be affecting Florida's most powerful industry - tourism - and its potential to do so over the coming months and years: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/florida-tourism-travel-advisories
    https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/florida-tourism-travel-advisories
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