Travel During Wartime

War may not be so good for children and other living things, but it sure clears out the tourists. So writes Kevin Rushby in The Guardian. Rushby is the author of the fantastic travel book, Eating the Flowers of Paradise, about the khat road though Ethiopia and Yemen, which I read when I was reporting on the drug’s use in the U.S. “The unfortunate truth about fear, tension or fighting,” he wrote in last week’s Guardian, “is that there are benefits to be had in neighbouring areas. That may be as simple as having few fellow visitors at great sites like Iran’s old Persian capital of Persepolis, or Jordan’s rose-red Petra -both badly affected by current troubles.”

Or it might be something like saving a lot of money. “The current crisis in Lebanon—plus perhaps more general fears about terrorism—is certainly having an effect on regional tourism. Bookings for Jordan are down—Cox & Kings is reporting a 17% fall—while for Syria they are non-existent.” That means many hotels are slashing prices. As for the ethics of it, I’m with Rushby: “While some might think it wrong to talk of benefits from disasters, the truth is that the affected communities are usually glad to see visitors. The presence of an intrepid tourist can be a huge boost for local people when the rest of the world seems to have abandoned them.”

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