Jihad Tourism: Newfangled Tourism?

Even though every American and British citizens who ever had gone to one are now under close surveillance by their countries respective anti-terror groups is Jihad tourism even legal? 

By: Ringo Bones

Every young man who have ever gone to one is now – as of late – currently in very close surveillance of their respective countries’ anti-terror agencies, it seems that the perception surrounding this so-called “Jihad Tourism” that if we stop the already radicalized young men from going into a “Jihad trip” to Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq or to enlist with ISIS or any other conflict zone where the West have the complicity of “killing Muslims” it could avoid them becoming into full-fledged Islamist terrorists. But is there any truth to this and is this policy of not sending “already radicalized” young Muslim men to current conflict zones with a large Muslim population from becoming “further radicalized” can even be implemented viably? 

Even though the West friendly House of Saud, the apparent world authority of Sunni Islam, condemn such “Jihad Tourism” such form of “military outfitting tourism” is apparently older than that of the events that lead to the September 11, 2001 Terror Attacks. And aren’t these “Jihad Tourist” just mercenaries by any other name? Back in the 1970s young British and American men fresh out of the Vietnam War who are starved for cash had been lured to become mercenaries in the unstable regions of Africa in order to protect Western multi-national commercial interests. And during the late 1970s and early 1980s, a clandestine travel company provides logistical support for the right price to Americans who want revenge against the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese Army to enter back to the newly unified communist Vietnam and shoot at Vietnamese soldiers after these “American tourists” enter Vietnam via secret channels that existed in Thailand during that time. Could the “private security contracting industry” just the Christian West’s version of “Jihad Tourism” when it all comes down to it? 

Sri Lanka’s Conflict Tourism: Up The Creek Without A Paddle?

As the government’s way to “capitalize” on the relatively recently concluded civil conflict, is Sri Lanka’s attempt at “conflict tourism” is euphemistically up the creek without a paddle?

By: Ringo Bones

A couple of years ago – well back around September 2012 – the government of Sri Lanka made that “notorious” Jordanian ship that had been impounded by the Tamil Tigers back in 2006 that was eventually used as their base and a source of vital war materiel in the form of scrap steel for the then war effort before its bloody controversial end back in 2009 – as the centerpiece of their conflict tourism program that would hopefully bring in vital tourist dollars for vital postwar reconstruction of the country. Given the history of the Sri Lankan civil conflict between the ethnic Tamil and the Sinhalese majority – is this move well-advised?

Major tour providers around the world had expressed their wariness of this “history from the victorious ethnic group’s perspective” as soon as they’ve heard the announcement back in September 2012. And unbeknownst to most people – conventional tourism that takes advantage of Sri Lanka’s pristine beaches barely exists even as far back as the country’s independence. Those few music videos that the 1980s pop-rock supergroup Duran Duran shot there during the mid 1980s – before the Tamil Tiger-Sinhalese Conflict started - was allegedly a logistical tour de force given the nonexistence of even a “conventional” tourism industry in Sri Lanka.

Concerns of major travel and tourism providers on the Sri Lankan conflict tourism initiative were very much justified because war memorial signs of the facilities that were fast-tracked into completion were written only in English and Sinhalese – there were no Tamil language signs in sight whatsoever! I wonder if the Sri Lankan conflict tourism facilities will be serving Tamil fish curry as part of their haute cuisine. Only time will tell if this “oversight” will be rectified by the current Sri Lankan government.

Culinary Tourism: Savior of the Greek Tourism Industry?

As one of the major aspects of the health-conscious Mediterranean Diet movement, will Greek-based culinary tourism prove to be the savior of Greece’s ailing tourism industry?

By: Ringo Bones

Contrary to popular belief, Greek cuisine – unlike its Greek diaspora run American equivalent – is not just a Mediterranean “culinary orgy” of meat and saturated fats. The authentic Greek version of the famed health-conscious Mediterranean Diet is a very star contrast to its American cousin and is largely composed of locally grown garden fresh vegetables prepared in a traditional manner that dates back before the great Greek philosophers wrote their various treatises to enrich Western Civilization. This makes such Greek culinary tradition a “keeper of the faith” of the recent slow-food revolution and due to its healthiness and culinary significance, the Greek aspect of the Mediterranean Diet and slow-food revolution even won it a declaration by UNESCO the “intangible heritage” classification.

At the moment, tourists are veering away from Greece as a primary destination which is sad because at present Greece could use every form of economic stimulus that it badly needs to solve the country’s rather herculean debt crisis. Scared of by the still relatively strong euro, most budget-conscious tourists rather opt for Greek-like travel destinations in the Mediterranean not yet on the euro. Given that Greece is more than just Classical Greek era ruins, promotion of the healthier aspect of the Greek cuisine could surely boost tourist arrivals. But will efforts to promote the health benefits of traditional Greek cuisine as part of the burgeoning slow-foods revolution bring in the much needed tourism revenue back to Greece? Only time will tell.

Will the Harsh Pussy Riot Sentencing Ruin Russia’s Tourism Industry?

Given that the “irreverent” Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot had been perceived by the global punk community as a Russian tourist destination in themselves, will the harsh sentencing of the band eventually ruin Russia’s tourism industry? 

By: Ringo Bones 

In this day and age of over commoditized American Idol wannabe pseudo-musicians more interested in money than true artistry, genuine politically addled punk rock has inadvertently become a musical tourist destination in themselves – akin to Mississippi Delta Blues tourism and all-acoustic unamplified Viennese string quartets. But with the recent harsh sentencing of the Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot over their anti Vladimir Putin protest in Moscow’s main cathedral back in March, will Russia’s tourism industry be inadvertently ruined by missing out on the emergent music tourism – make that punk rock tourism - movement? 

Ever since the British punk rock band Sex Pistols sang a brash polemic about HRH Queen Elizabeth II back in the mid 1970s, parts of London with anything connecting them to Johnny Rotten and company had since became the “Mecca” of punk rock tourism. Not to mention punk rock fashions by Vivienne Westwood. And with the harsh sentencing of the three members of Pussy Riot to two years in a labor camp might give anyone planning to visit Russia in the coming months some second thoughts - especially since the inherent lack of freedom of expression and rule of law of Vladimir Putin’s Russia will definitely scare off potential tourists who are probably too scared to get arrested over arcane legalese definition of hooliganism by the Russian court of law. 

      

Chernobyl: A Novel Tourist Destination?

Does the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the disused nuclear fission power plant that underwent a meltdown back in April 26, 1986 really offer something more than the typical mainstream tourist destination?

By: Ringo Bones

Believe it or not, there is already a regular tour into the 30-kilometer exclusion zone on the town of Pripyat that used to house the personnel working in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The tour cost around 600-eros which includes a bus ride into the exclusion zone plus the ever-important Geiger counter. This “basic” package sends a group of tourists onto a viewing platform that overlooks the sarcophagus that permanently seals the remains of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Sadly, the tour group only has a 1-hour window to tour the Chernobyl exclusion zone since the prevailing background ionizing radiation levels of the area hovers around 8-microSieverts an hour can increase one’s cancer risk on prolonged ionizing radiation exposure.

Established tour operators in Chernobyl had been clamoring the local government officials to erect a memorial using tourism revenue to honor the victims and the first responders of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of April 26, 1986. Unfortunately, the local authorities still have the proverbial “cold feet” in acknowledging the full extent of the tragic nuclear meltdown.

Several Kiev-based travel agencies have been very busy recently in promoting their own Chernobyl tours that had been going on for years since the background ionizing radiation levels have subsided. Forbes magazine even listed Chernobyl as the most “exotic” tourist destination. But will the Chernobyl tourism boom benefit those who needed it most – i.e. the poor victims who can hardly even afford the necessary medication needed to relieve the symptoms of high-level ionizing radiation exposure?

Earthbound Space Tourism, Anyone?

From sailing and flying to a favorable vantage point to watch a solar eclipse, to sailing out to sea to have an unimpeded view of a nautical sunset’s green flash, is “earthbound space tourism” the next big thing?


By: Ringo Bones


Observing solar eclipses in their most favorable path of totality from the vantage point of a plane flying 35,000 feet in the air and on a luxury cruise liner has been an earthbound space tourism staple for some time now. And so does sailing out into sea for an unimpeded view of the green flash of a nautical sunset, but the earthbound space tourism’s “finest hour” has yet to arrive – if only the mainstream tourism industry advertises that these forms of tourism also exist. Reports and advisories on the favorable vantage points to witness a satellite in a controlled reentry to crash into an uninhabited part of our planet is not yet a mainstream part of “earthbound space tourism” or its staple. But things are about to change.

Since the end of the Cold War, NORAD or the North American Air Defense Command whose former mission during Soviet times was to provide early warning for ballistic missiles launched from the then Soviet Union bound to the continental United States or her allies – is now used to warn NASA Space Shuttle missions and the International Space Station of meteor swarms and space junk that are about to hit these multi-million dollar space assets.

NORAD’s radar array that’s based in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado are sensitive enough to “see” and track a marble-sized object in low Earth orbit. Whit this capability, NORAD also has the potential to serve the earthbound space tourism biz by giving meteor shower and space junk reentering into the Earth’s atmosphere advisories – i.e. the most favorable vantage point to witness them and also advisory on the minimum safe distance to gawk at these wonderful debris showers.

Also given that NASA’s fleet of Space Shuttles is about to be retired and planned to be replaced by Apollo-style space capsule vehicles – i.e. the Orion Exploration Vehicle – that more often than not must splashdown in the middle of the Pacific in order to land safely. A heads-up from NORAD on advisory on the best “ringside seat” for earthbound space tourists to watch a space capsule splashdown ferrying returning International Space Station astronauts from the prescribed minimum safe distance of course would be nice. With coordination from NORAD and the world’s various travel agencies, earthbound space tourism could well be the global tourism industry’s next big thing.

Space Tourism: Looking for Both Creek and Paddle?

Given our current on-going global economic downturn, does the future of space tourism look promising?


By: Ringo Bones


The sales pitch about the beauty of seeing our planet from 250 miles up (400 kilometers) in space has been the sales pitch of space tourism ever since its pioneering founders took it upon themselves to make the first fiscal steps. Oddly enough way back in time when then US President John F. Kennedy gave his speech about sending a man to the moon before the decade – 1960’s that is – is out. After almost 50 years, are we now closer to a viable space tourism industry?

Probably were still suffering from that 20th Century euphoria of our relatively swift progress on manned flight. It took way less than 50 years from the Wright brothers’ first flight at Kitty Hawk to the invention of the DC-3 which made affordable commercial – make that tourism – flights possible. As our current state of space tourism still preclude the participation of the casual tourist, will it ever progress from sending a few intrepid billionaires paying 25 million or so US dollars per launch to experience weightlessness to a relatively mundane mass tourism business phenomena?

Basing on recent developments on space commercialization and or possible space tourism, it looks like the United States will have to settle for second place. Back in December 31, 2008, the Scottish National party is calling for a disused RAF airbase in Moray to become the UK’s first commercial spaceport. Together with Virgin Galactic, the RAF Lossiemouth site will probably serve as the birthplace of relatively affordable space flights for the average Joe intrepid enough (probably also financially well-healed) to experience weightlessness or who just want to see first-hand the beauty of planet Earth as seen from space. Even though all of this is too tempting to be ignored by the travel and tourism industry, will space tourism ever become a viable commercial enterprise given that our present “conventional” tourism industry is currently threatened by the global economic downturn?

Even though the global credit crunch will probably delay the establishment of a fiscally viable space tourism industry by a few years, its obvious unique selling points is just too tempting to not be exploited by the world’s established travel and tourism companies. Even though space commercialization via satellite launching services is already a viable private business enterprise for over 20 years, the revenue generated by space tourism or space travel by paying private individuals is still small in comparison to its bigger sibling. Not just to let anyone experience the novelty of weightlessness, it could also provide opportunity for amateur astronomers to see interesting celestial phenomena from the vantage point of low Earth orbit. Imagine a telescope-equipped space tourism “bus” where amateur astronomers can charter for a reasonable fee to witness a total eclipse of the Sun from Earth orbit. Not to mention the other “mundane” experiments that can only be performed in weightless conditions. All of which can be classified under “ignore at your own peril” to the world’s established travel and tourism industry.