International tourism

[jacee]

only-governments-can-stem-tide-of-tourism-sweeping-the-globe

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/05/only-governments-can-stem-tide-of-tourism-sweeping-the-globe?CMP=share_btn_link

“Why call it tourist season if we can’t kill them?”

 

Few industries were better positioned to take advantage of the 21st century than tourism. Open borders for the first time in modern history, leaps in technology from aeroplanes to the internet and the rise of the global middle class (think China) meant travel moved from a pastime to an economic engine. In less than two decades, travel doubled from 536m trips abroad in 1995 to 1bn in 2012. When the Cold War closed off much of the world to tourism, that figure was only 25m.

Wow. They don't like us! 

Who does like the tourists in their own neighbourhoods. Lol

Hordes during the season taking all the primo housing and jacking up prices, then a hollowed out and unemployed  community in the off seasons.

Lost, tired, cranky, cheap, drinking, partying, puking, littering, whining and complaining ... but SPENDING ... tourist$.

I always like to hear the travel adventures of mlw'rs.

Have at it. 

Edited August 6, 2017 by jacee

[hot enough]

"Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded!"

[Omni]

On 8/6/2017 at 4:05 PM, jacee said:

Have at it.

OK.

I left the UN compound one evening in Lubango, a city in the mountains of southern Angola and headed in the direction of the lights of what I suspected must be a small local community up the hill to the south. I was advised not not do so, but sometimes I prefer interest over advice. So I set off on foot and found a path that led me up to that place. In anticipation of what I thought I might find, and since I had cooking facilities at the house in the compound, I strapped on an empty back pack and sure enough there were a myriad of ladies tending tables of every kind of vegetable and fruit you could think of. And so I shopped, and I did so in a way anyone would at home, but with more fun. I would pick up an onion, have a look, and I would hear one of the ladies close by telling me she had much better onions over here, but it wasn't in a way to fight for sales, but rather to please the customer. And this customer was the only white face in the place. I picked up an onion here, a green pepper there, mangoes, tomatoes, cucumber. During the process one of the men appeared from the back room and asked me where was I from. You could see the lights from the compound from the perch we were on and so I pointed and said well at the moment I am coming from there, but I am a Canadian, and I'm here trying to help the UN figure out who actually won that election. Well with that announcement I was invited into the back rooms to sit and talk with the men and the women at table because they said they had a lot of respect for Canadians. Of all things, a bottle of Scotch whiskey was produced, one of my favorites, and we chatted at length. I finally did head back down that path as I did have to work the next day, and besides having a back pack filled with some lovely organic things to eat, I have some organic thoughts and memories I would not have had I stayed in the compound and watched TV.  

Edited August 8, 2017 by Omni

[jacee]

Awesome.

[OftenWrong]

1 hour ago, Omni said:

OK.

I left the UN compound one evening in Lubango, a city in the mountains of southern Angola and headed in the direction of the lights of what I suspected must be a small local community up the hill to the south. I was advised not not do so, but sometimes I prefer interest over advice.

A predominantly Christian nation, so you were pretty safe.

[hot enough]

1 hour ago, Omni said:

but I am a Canadian, and I'm here trying to help the UN figure out who actually won that election.

Omni, you stated that the UN sometimes hires pilots. Now you are pretending you are a top UN administration official.

Is there going to be a new movie, Catch Omni If You Can?

[Omni]

6 minutes ago, OftenWrong said:

A predominantly Christian nation, so you were pretty safe.

 And I've done the same thing in predominantly Muslim country's. and I'm still here. Christmas in Jalalabad was one of those times.

[Omni]

2 minutes ago, hot enough said:

Omni, you stated that the UN sometimes hires pilots. Now you are pretending you are a top UN administration official.

Is there going to be a new movie, Catch Omni If You Can?

Yes they hire pilots. No I never said I was a top administrator. Do you ever get your stories straight?

[hot enough]

9 minutes ago, Omni said:

Yes they hire pilots. No I never said I was a top administrator. Do you ever get your stories straight?

You said, "and I'm here trying to help the UN figure out who actually won that election", which obviously is one of those famous Omni grand exaggerations/prevarications/fabrications/... . 

[jacee]

20 minutes ago, hot enough said:

You said, "and I'm here trying to help the UN figure out who actually won that election", which obviously is one of those famous Omni grand exaggerations/prevarications/fabrications/... . 

It's a team.

Do you have a travel story?

Edited August 8, 2017 by jacee

[hot enough]

10 minutes ago, jacee said:

It's a team.

I wish that were the case, Jacee, but Omni regularly presents, with no shame whatsoever, bald faced lies in the Providing proof/evidence that supports the US 911 Conspiracy Theory.

 

[jacee]

3 minutes ago, hot enough said:

I wish that were the case, Jacee, but Omni regularly presents, with no shame whatsoever, bald faced lies in the Providing proof/evidence that supports the US 911 Conspiracy Theory.

 

Oh shut up and tell us a travel story. 

[Omni]

1 hour ago, jacee said:

Oh shut up and tell us a travel story. 

I get the feeling he's never been far from home.

[Omni]

2 hours ago, jacee said:

Awesome.

Two months on the beaches in Goa is another one I like to tell, but let's first hear one of yours.

[hot enough]

8 hours ago, Omni said:

I get the feeling he's never been far from home.

See how easily Omni moves to prevarication with zero evidence. This has nothing to do with you attempting to pump yourself up, Omni, with your UN tall tales. 

[hot enough]

9 hours ago, jacee said:

Do you have a travel story?

Yup, hot beaches are boring as hell and they suck, big time. Getting stuck on one is no fun at all. 

[Omni]

1 hour ago, hot enough said:

See how easily Omni moves to prevarication with zero evidence. This has nothing to do with you attempting to pump yourself up, Omni, with your UN tall tales. 

Did you happen to hear a grown up use the word "prevaricate" and you decided you liked it so you use it incessantly? You should look it up first and try to understand the true meaning of the word.

[hot enough]

9 minutes ago, Omni said:

and you decided you liked it so you use it incessantly?

'prevaricate/fabricate both come into frequent use because you are so adept at doing these things. You do it constantly. You are a very dishonest person, as evidenced by your UN tall tale. 

 

Quote

You should look it up first and try to understand the true meaning of the word.

The following is for you, to help you know what you are, what you do. 

 

MacMillan

verb prevaricate

▸

to avoid saying or doing something because you want to cause a delay or hide the truth

[cannuck]

On 8/7/2017 at 11:45 PM, Omni said:

Two months on the beaches in Goa is another one I like to tell, but let's first hear one of yours.

Sorry you were subjected to the doubts of those who's greatest travel experience has probably been the next WalMart beyond their nearest, but please don't hesitate to share some more.

Your habits sound very much alike what I prefer to do.  I seldom stay in Western-style chain hotels, I much prefer to go out into the local neighbourhoods and stay there.  I will only hit the big 5 star chains if I have to meet with someone who would not understand being out "on the economy" (an old Canadian Army expression).  In doing this for decades, I have NEVER experienced a negative reaction from my hosts or complete strangers.

One of my most memorable trips of that nature was in KSA, about 17 years ago.  I had been coming frequently as an American business with a Lebanese component, but the people we dealt with were quite aware I was Canadian.  After a few visits in Riyadh and Dammam, our hosts had made quite a point of how I would break apart from our group and head out into a local hotel on every trip.  They asked endless questions about my background and experience in MENA and the Maghreb.  Having spent a LOT of time in Morocco, I knew exactly what they were getting at.  The imperative is to NEVER embarass your host or your guest, so before being accepted into a circle of friends as an actual friend, they need to know you will not do anything to embarass those around you and that you will not be offended in any way by their customs and values.  Once accepted, your friends are totally responsible for you, as you are expected to be similarly responsible for the safety, well being and happiness of them.

Our Lebanese facilitators had made some fuss about how our Saudi counterparts were in some way influential, but I was soon to learn that they protected their real identities FIERCELY when dealing with Lebanese, as they viewed them as opportunistic.  They trusted our American component even less, as they could not understand how the US side simply regarded everyone who did not want to be "just like us" as somehow inferior.  The resulting boorish behaviour would simply not be acceptable in Saudi society.   I know this will ring B-C's bells pretty hard, but reality is many countries deal with outsiders with a great deal of politeness, which most Americans interpret as "friendliness", but it is actually just polite deference to keep them at arms length (this is ESPECIALLY true in KSA).  Canadians are given a bit more of the benefit of the doubt, but all that means is you can be considered to be invited into a genuine friendly relationship.

I was invited to leave our group and come away deep into the desert for a few days with our hosts once they were comfortable that I understood how to behave.  I was to find out that even though my new friends were very young (coming up on 30) they were highly respected by several community leaders and significant figures within the Kingdom.  I spent several days meeting with people not in a business sense, but in many family celebrations including a wedding, a birthday party, a celebration of an eldest son's "coming of age".  One of the ways one can measure the degree of respect being shown is the invitations to private meetings during gatherings, and paying attention to WHO is pouring you tea or coffee.   When it is the eldest son at one end of the spectrum or simply a servant at the other, you can figure out how you have been represented to your host and how he appraises that introduction.   

Let's just leave it that I got to meet several families and their patriarchs, and got to experience a LOT of Saudi culture that is seldom visible to the rest of the world.  My takeaway from that experience was that Canadians are extremely well regarded in KSA, but they can not understand why we don't come over more often to tell them what we can do for and with them.  Some of the most sensitive contracts in KSA now go to Canadian companies, but an awful lot of plain old day-to-day commercial activity is done by European companies that the Saudis would LOVE to see displaced by Canadians.

I have had similar experiences in several other countries, but to tell them here in any detail would just be met by the kind of rudeness and derission Omni has just experienced in this thread.   What those of us who have been fortunate enough to experience such travels take away is friends.  Our two young Saudi hosts are to this day very good friends, and I have the joy of watching their children grow up in a situation where they are exposed to international travel and family friends that will shape their lives and the character of their nation for decades and generations to come.

The secret in being a tourst seems to be in NOT being a tourist, but a visitor prepared to open your mind and get in step with your host country.

 

Edited December 7, 2017 by cannuck

[Omni]

3 hours ago, cannuck said:

What those of us who have been fortunate enough to experience such travels take away is friends.  Our two young Saudi hosts are to this day very good friends, and I have the joy of watching their children grow up in a situation where they are exposed to international travel and family friends that will shape their lives and the character of their nation for decades and generations to come.

The secret in being a tourst seems to be in NOT being a tourist, but a visitor prepared to open your mind and get in step with your host country.

Sounds like you have had some interesting and beneficial experiences on the road as well. I still keep in touch with a fellow who was my driver/go to guy when I was working in Sudan. I had a rented house in Khartoum, to heck with the hotels,  and he used to spend much of the day there with me when he wasn't driving me here or there. We often stopped at a street vendor at lunch time and had some of the tastiest chicken schwarma ever He now has a wife and two lovely girls and is a happy man. He also keeps me up on what's going around in his part of the world.

I agree with your idea of NOT being a tourist. I used to have a sailboat I visited around the Bahamas with when I could get out of the winter weather for awhile. I recall being tied up in Nassau at times and you would see the sun flight tour people arriving from the airport on their bus, toting their suntour bags. They would check into the hotel, a little freshening up I guess, and then back on the bus for a drive around on their guided tours. I wonder if any of those people actually got to know a Bahamian.  One of my contacts there was an old man and his son who I went to see regularly to shop. The sun would do the diving and catch conch he would fill up the old man's old rowboat with.  The old man would sit up in the bow and you told him how many you wanted and he would shell and score them so they were ready to cook. He would ask me about Canada, where he'd never been, and I would get him to tell me stories of growing up on the islands. He had had some amazing experiences, and thinking back to those fresh conch stir fry's back on the boat still make my mouth water.