How Guided Tours Can Save the World

What are your most popular destinations?

Over the years, Bhutan, India, the Himalayas, and Tibet have been enduringly popular. More recently we're seeing interest in the Galapagos and Patagonia. The common threads are that these places have been historically difficult to get to or people feel uncomfortable doing on their own. There can be medical concerns, such as in high-altitude areas, or logistical difficulties, or security concerns. Some places are practically impossible to do on your own, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran.

I visited Iran during the Clinton era, when there was a slight defrosting of relations, which seem to have frozen up again. Are travelers going to Iran now?

Paradoxically, our Iran bookings have increased more than any other destination. Our 2009 bookings are up five times more then they were in 2008. I wouldn't ever have predicted it but that's what happened. We've been taking travelers to Iran since 1991, after fall of the shah. I think the recent presidential election has made Americans more interested in the region.

That leads to the question: Can travel promote peace in the world?

Yes, absolutely. The perspective that travelers gain is of value to both the traveler and the resident. This is the essence of people-to-people diplomacy. We've been taking travelers to Burma (Myannmar) for years. In the beginning, Amnesty International tried to dissuade us trom taking travelers there, saying you're just supporting a repressive/despotic government. Our position was that we try to hire as many locals as possible to provide meaningful income. Moreover, it provides travelers with a perspective of what happens on the ground versus what is provided by the state-run media. And travelers can provide real information to the residents about what goes on outside. Over the years, we've taken travelers to North Korea, Vietnam, and the former Soviet Union. Overall, it is a big net plus in terms of widening people's perspective on both sides.  And what one finds when average citizens talk to each other is that while our governments may have different views, often there is a lot of commonality in the basic core values between people.

So can travel solve global warming and protect our natural and cultural resources, too?

I think travel has an important role to play in that. I've seen it on the travel philanthropy side. We introduced the actor Edward Norton to a Maasai-run ecolodge in Kenya, Campi ya Kanzi, and he ended up putting down his work and volunteering for a whole summer; now it's his passion. I've seen the difference travel can make in my own children, now 15 and 17; we were also in Kenya recently and they got so sit in at 7th and 8th grade classrooms at schools our company supports. Some kids have to walk two miles to school; one concern is animal predators getting to them. Showing our children what is reality in the rest of the world is a tremendous gift. Many travelers are motivated to give back, whether through one of our programs or on their own.

Photo: Courtesy Geographic Expeditions, by David Robinson and Urs Hofmann