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RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL TO OPPRESSIVE REGIMES

05-14-2008

 

Here's the lowdown on the most scenic, fascinating, and repressive countries on earth. Peter Frank, editor in chief of Concierge.com, weigh the pros and cons, but only you can decide whether to buy the ticket.

1) CHINA

Why go:

  • 22 million people, including 1.7 million Americans, visit China annually to see highlights like the Great Wall and Forbidden City; natural icons such as the Huanglong Valley, home of giant pandas; as well as the urban glitz of Hong Kong and Shanghai.
  • All eyes are focused on the August Olympics and the amazing buildings created to host them.  The Dalai Lama opposes an Olympic boycott and says attendance of foreign governments at the Opening Ceremony is "up to them." He encourages foreigners to travel to Tibet to see the conditions there.

Why not go:

  • The government's campaign to weaken Tibetan autonomy and cultural integrity uses violent crackdowns on dissenters, and forbids boys under 18 from joining monasteries.
  • China's human-rights record is poor throughout the country, having relocated millions of rural citizens without any warning or compensation for national projects including the Three Gorges Dam.
  • Restrictions on foreign journalists have been relaxed to allow interviews of citizens during the Games, arrests and harassment of Chinese journalists continue, and more than 18,000 blogs and Web sites have been blocked or shut down since April 2007 alone.
  • China aids the regime in Sudan, investing in oil fields, selling weapons, and obstructing U.N. attempts to send peace keepers.

RUSSIA

Why go:

  • Rich in culture, Russia is an eye-opener for Americans raised on Cold War propaganda. Moscow's Red Square, the Bolshoi Ballet, and Moscow Circus, as well St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum, Peterhof Palace, and the Mariinsky Theatre are must-sees on many people's lists.
  • Russia has freewheeling nightclubs, designer boutiques, and over-the-top luxury hotels.
  • The forests and volcanic mountain landscapes of Kamchatka offer year-round adventure travel with dog sledding, skiing, and white-water rafting.
  • Everyone acknowledges that Russia is still evolving politically, socially, and economically and has improved vastly from the days of Soviet rule.

Why not go:

  • Communism may have fallen but human-rights abuses persist. According to Amnesty International, torture is used in police custody throughout the country to force confessions; and ineffectual investigations result in state impunity for human-rights violations.
  • While the Chechen war has ended, the Russian and local pro-Kremlin governments abduct and torture pro-separatist opponents. Chechen rebels also conduct politically motivated "disappearances." News outlets are stifled, journalists are intimidated, and in some cases murdered for criticizing the state.
  • The $100-per-barrel oil boom has produced billionaires, but millions of Russians still live in poverty.
  • Western embassies advise that travel to Chechnya and its North Caucasus neighbor is dangerous.

3) MYANMAR (BURMA)

Why go:

  • The country is awash in golden temples like Inle Lake and Bagan, with a fraction of the crowds in Thailand and Cambodia. 
  • Private guest houses, and even luxury hotels are relatively cheap. Expect to pay less than five dollars for a meal.
  • "Tourism is in no way essential to the government's survival," says Burmese historian Thant Myint-U, pointing out that China, India, and Thailand fill the trade vacuum created by other forms of Western sanctions. Government tax on private tourist revenue amounts to just seven percent.

Why not go:

  • In the 1990s, democratic opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi called for an international tourism boycott to undermine the then cash-strapped military government. Apart from canceling the 1988 election won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party and shooting thousands of student protestors, Myanmar used forced labor to build hotels, airports, and other tourism infrastructure.
  • The ruling junta has grown rich off monopolies on teak, gems, and natural gas and has conducted ethnic cleansing campaigns against indigenous people, while neglecting and mismanaging the country's economy.
  • Dissent and even large public gatherings, including weddings, are outlawed unless participants seek advance permission.

4) VENEZUELA

Why go:

  • Gorgeous natural attractions abound, including beaches, deserts, the Andes Mountains, and the wildlife of the Orinoco River Basin.
  • Travelers can visit the world's highest waterfall, the 3,000-foot Angel Falls, Margarita Island, mainland beaches, the baseball-mad capital Caracas and the colonial towns of Ciudad Bolívar and Coro, and the wetland savannahs of Los Llanos, whose plains are fed by Andean rivers.
  • The Caribbean coast is dotted with gorgeous island national parks.

Why not go:

  • Although it's an OPEC member and one of the richest of Latin American countries, more than 30 percent of the population lives below the poverty line; unemployment is rampant, and violent crime happens not just in slums but also in tourist and resort areas.
  • Those critical of President Hugo Chávez, including TV broadcasters to Catholic bishops, suffer government harassment. Chávez advocates a world "devoid of U.S. influence" and has strengthened political and economic ties to Iran, Syria, and Cuba.
  • According to the CIA, international criminals have made Venezuela an export center for cocaine, heroin, and human trafficking, while Venezuelan companies are reported to have served as covers for Iranian-government arms sales to Uruguay and other Latin American clients.
  • Crime is a major problem in Caracas and many tourist and resort areas. Arrange transportation to and from airports in advance, and stay clear of the Columbian border, where cross-border violence, kidnapping, smuggling, and drug trafficking is frequent. Avoid displays of wealth.

5) ZIMBABWE

Why go:

  • Huge elephant herds and one of the continent's largest concentrations of giraffes inhabit the country's many National Parks, like Hwange, on the border of the Kalahari Desert, where over 100 animal species easily seen in their natural habitat.
  • There have been no security incidents affecting safari clients, who can skirt cities and travel to game lodges by light planes. Victoria Falls, on the Zambian-Zimbabwean border remains wildly popular.
  • Experts say that if there is one country in Africa where people and wildlife stand to benefit from tourism, it's Zimbabwe.  Lodges and tour companies provide fuel and transportation for anti-poaching units, and jobs for staff who each support an average of ten family members. 

Why not go:

  • Under the 28-year rule of President Mugabe, Zimbabwe has experienced over 100,000 percent inflation. Economic reform based on the seizure of farms and land redistribution has led to food shortages.
  • Police routinely arrest journalists, human-rights activists, and political demonstrators; torture is frequent. Mugabe's party lost control of parliament for the first time in three decades; however, the government has refused to publicly release the vote count.
  • You cannot use cameras or cell phones to take photographs in cities. Police have orders to arrest journalists who have snuck in on tourist visas to cover Zimbabwe's plight.

6) TUNISIA

Why go:

  • This cosmopolitan, secular, pro-Western Arab country has beach resorts, fantastic desert scenery, and some of North Africa's best-preserved Roman ruins, including El Jem, the largest coliseum outside of Rome; the Antonin baths at Carthage; and Bulla Regia, an ancient city.
  • In addition to many architectural layers, the old medina of Tunis now has guest houses, theaters, art galleries, and restaurants geared toward Tunisian yuppies eager to rediscover their roots. 
  • An ally in America's "war on terror," President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali has cracked down on Islamic fundamentalists and shepherded the emergence
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