Trifter has a good post with even better pictures on some of the amazing sights in Afghanistan under the heading: “Would You Take a Vacation to Afghanistan?” The answer is “yes”, but there are some obvious caveats. There are only certain areas of the country that are reasonably safe for tourists, and I would prefer to go when some of the land mines be removed. However, there are tours of some of the highlights, and all things considered, Afghanistan is one of the places I might consider getting a package guided tour. It’s certainly not my next trip, but something worth considering down the road.

Photo: Flickr user Tracyhunter under creative commons license.

It’s spring time! Today is spring equinox in the northern hemisphere. I’m excited. I enjoy winter, the skiing, snowball fights, the mulled wine, but I love springtime. Those first warm days when everyone is outside and everyone is a friend and you’re blinded by the half-frozen pasty girls laying out in bikinis.

I hope that everyone can get out and about in the coming days. For my part I’m going to grab my bike and see what trouble I can get into this weekend.

Photo: People taking a lunch break in a park near my office earlier this week.

I was scheming with an American friend of mine about a trip to Iran over the winter, an interesting combination of challenges. One of the things that I noticed was that for Americans to travel in Iran, they have to be accompanied by a government approved guide. While that sounds like a bit of a killjoy, the guys at In Deep Films show it as a bit of fun, hanging out with their minder in the evening. I suppose it’s really just a different style of travel you’d have to embrace and make the most of. While I think of my ideal holiday as being footloose and fancy free, I suppose there is a certain amount of fun to be had if you embrace way things are live it up. So the trip plotting will continue.

I’m not a huge fan of finding places shut down from lack of visitors, nor am I a fan of huge crowds of tourists. So I find the news about the changes in tourist flows in the financial crisis very interesting.

The UN says that global tourism – of the cross border variety – could decline between 2 and 5 percent this year. Talib Rifai, secretary general of the U.N. World Tourism Organization, says that Europe will likely see the largest decline in tourism, but there are murmurs of massive drops of the number of tourists in East Asia, and the IMF says that Africa will suffer as tourism declines there as well. So where are people going? As Europe and East Asia account for a large chunk of the world’s tourism, there must be some massive increases elsewhere.

Secondly, the UN article notes that China hope to see in increase in the number of tourists leaving the county and they are largely going to Europe, and that American’s and Europeans aren’t likely to scale back their travel plans that much. So if some the biggest markets are still sending out tourists, who is sending fewer?

This is purely me theorizing, but I feel that the answer to both questions is: emerging economies. First, folks who still have money are likely looking for somewhere you get a lot of mileage for your yet, dollar, euro, or whatever. Emerging economies provide that. and to the second point it seems to me that international travel is one of the things people would give up first as their income declines. Not me of course, I’m talking about “most people”. So tourists from places like Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and India might decide to stay home in the face of the global recession.

If this is indeed the case, that could be a very good thing for those economies. It means that less currency is leaving the country, while there is still a good amount coming it. I’ll be interested to see how this shakes out and if I’m right.

Some of my favourite travels have been in the developing world, so a recent post of Intelligent Travel and longer article on Traveler on poverty tourism gave me pause. Clearly, tourists cruising through slums snapping pictures though the windows of an air conditioned tour bus is exploitative and disturbingly voyeuristic.

As they also mention in the articles, I think that there is a good way for visit developing areas as well. Study abroad programmes, for example, provide a chance to have a true cultural exchange, rather than just cruising though, seeing the sights, and buying the souvenirs. But I’m hesitant to cite my own experience as proof of this because there were certain moments on my study abroad time that I got that sickening feeling of being in a position of power and advantage.

I think you have to let the golden rule be the test. If you’re don’t think you’d be happy in your home country if tourists behaved the way you are behaving, then don’t do it. Thing is, that’s a really hard test to pass. I don’t think I would ever like it if some really rich folks showed up in my life and wanted to see how I lived, then after eating some takeout with me and playing Guitar Hero, hoped in a limo and drove off to box seats at the Chelsea match. Yet that’s not too different from what I’ve done.

It’s tough. It’s obviously very valuable to have the cultural exchange, especially for many people in western countries who have no concept of what life is like in the developing world. So go forth and explore, but remember to try and keep the playing field as level as you can and “do unto others…”.

Image: Me with a family I stayed with for a couple of weeks in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam. It was a crazy fun time, I think we both learn lots about each other’s cultures, but in the end, I hoped in a bus and went home.