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.
Comments
One week after the government of the Maldives shut down all spas at high-end resorts in order to conform with Sharia, the government has beaten a hasty retreat and allowed the spas to reopen. But how much p.r. damage has been done?
Will it, or will wiser heads convince the hard-liners that this is self-destructive? (On a related note, I will drink alcohol tonight, God help me.)
I hope it hits them hard.
The government of the Maldives has shut down spas at high-end resorts because their practices do not conform to sharia. How badly will this hit Maldives tourism?
It would seem the marijuana ban would drive it back underground, which is why I thought pot was tolerated there in the first place.
No more marijuana in Holland!? "Foreign visitors will be banned from cannabis-selling coffee shops in southern Netherlands from January 1 to combat anti-social behaviour among tourists," reports the Daily Mail (UK).
"The Dutch justice ministry announced the ban after a consultation period and despite opposition from some MPs who branded the move 'tourism suicide'."
How much will this change tourism -- especially in Amsterdam?
All those with an honest interest in learning about Cuba can find a legal path, either by signing up for an appropriate open enrollment trip or by putting together their own group. (Let me know if I can help you do that: director@ffrd.org)
Religious organizations and higher education students can easily go now under a general license without any notification to or permission from bureaucrats in Washington.
Overview of legal travel:
http://cubapeopletopeople.blogspot.com/2011/03/overview-of-legal-tr...
Links to travel providers
http://cubapeopletopeople.blogspot.com/2011/04/list-of-travel-provi...
We continue to await OFAC's disposition on people to people licenses, emphasizing how much better it would have been if the President had authorized general licenses for all authorized travel.
John McAuliff
Cuba/US People to People Partnership
Fund for Reconciliation and Development
Obama announces loosening of restrictions on travel to Cuba. http://yhoo.it/eogiy0 Who will benefit? Who will howl?