Results tagged “Tourism” from Intelligent Travel Blog

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the killings at Babi Yar, an atrocity in Kiev, Ukraine in which 33,700 Jews were rounded up and executed over two days by the Nazis. The site, at the edge of a ravine, has become a sacred place for the family members who survived the killings, and as of yesterday, its sanctity will remain intact. Kiev Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky's office said yesterday that he had vetoed a decision by the city council to build the hotel on the edge of the site, which would have been called Babi Yar, after wide protests from Jewish groups.

The controversy in Babi Yar is indicative of issues facing Eastern Bloc nations struggling to get a foothold in tourism. Kiev is looking for ways to expand its accommodations, as it currently has only 125 hotels and 17,000 beds, and needs sites where it can build hotels in order to prepare for the 2012 European soccer championship. But it's also dealing with the aftermath of postwar anti-Semitic policies that failed to recognize the significance of the site for decades. For years following World War II, Babi Yar bore a plaque that only paid tribute to the "citizens of Kiev and prisoners of war" who died there. It was only in 1991, after the Soviet Union's collapse, that a memorial was erected to recognize the Jewish lives that were lost.

As cities such as Kiev attempt to develop and expand their tourism efforts, it's inevitable that they'll also have to acknowledge some of the more sordid moments in their history. The key for them will be to not only focus on developing properties that will accommodate tourists, but on creating sites that will respect the history in the cities and inform visitors about the tragedies in their past.

Photo: In this Sept. 29, 2003 file photo, a man cries as he remembers all his family killed by Nazis at Babi Yar ravine, at the monument to victims in Kiev, Ukraine. (AP Photo/ Efrem Lukatsky, File)

For some it's the last place on earth, the seventh check mark on their continent list. But the growing influx of tourists to Antarctica has U.S. leaders thinking about the consequences, and on Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at the Arctic Council and the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting about the need to limit visitors to the region.

"The changes underway in the Arctic will have long-term impacts on our economic future, our energy future, and indeed, again, the future of our planet," she said. "So it is crucial that we work together." In her statement, she proposed new international standards that would limit the number of tourist vessel landings and cited the need to have cooperation in restricting potentially hazardous discharges from ships. She also focused on setting safety standards for tour operations; citing some of the recent cruise ship accidents, she made a recommendation for new requirements for lifeboats on tourist ships "to make sure they can keep passengers alive until rescue comes."

The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators has reported that over 46,000 tourists visited Antarctica in the 2007-2008 tour season -- which is about four times the number of visitors as during the 2000-2001 season. What do you think? What standards would you like to see in place to protect the Arctic?

Read More: In the April National Geographic magazine, Bruce Barcott wrote a feature article about Svalbard, Norway's pristine Arctic archipelago, with photos by Paul Nicklen.

[CNN, DotEarth]
Photo: Dave Walsh via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool

Photographer:  David Dunai of San Francisco and Budapest

Getting the Shot:  This photo was taken at Angkor Wat in the jungles of Cambodia on a warm day in January.  
 
Details:  Initially, I was drawn to photograph the temples by themselves to represent the isolation of these ancient ruins in the middle of the jungle and show the otherworldly character of the structures built by a civilization long gone.

That however, turned out to be impossible as there was not a square inch free of my fellow tourists. So I changed my approach and decided to go for the quirky by juxtaposing these modern wanderers against the background of the ancient, massive palaces. When I spotted these two Chinese visitors in their fantastic tropical hiking outfit I could not stop clicking the shutter.

We Love: The juxtaposition of colorful, slightly surreal elements.  Despite its unarguable value as a cultural icon, Angkor Wat scored very poorly in stewardship in our 2006 World Heritage Destinations Rated.   

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