Tourism Trends Archive
In-Depth Tourism
Posted by jimheck in Culture, Economy, Poverty, Tourism Trends on December 14, 2012
Death, destruction, despair and poverty … all for an attractive price! For less than $30 per person you can be guided into Kenya’s most famous slum! Kibera Tours dot com. “Experience a part of Kenya unseen by most tourists: KIBERA The friendliest slum in the world!” The half-day sightseeing trip in Nairobi promises to visit [...]
Better the Beast You Know
Posted by jimheck in Mountain Gorilla, Politics, Rwanda, Tourism Trends, Uganda on November 19, 2012
The second greatest conservation success story in my lifetime may be out of control. Mountain gorilla populations may be prospering because so are bribes and corruption. The first mountain gorilla trek I brokered was in June, 1979. At the time Dian Fossey reigned on Karisoke volcano with no aplomb and great madness. But science had [...]
Outlaw Cats?
Posted by jimheck in Tourism Trends, Wildlife Management, Wildlife Research on August 9, 2012
India’s Supreme Court has banned tiger safaris in an attempt to stem their extinction. The decision has enormous implications for wildlife tourism worldwide. Almost all wildlife tourism featuring wild tigers is in India. (A much smaller industry remains in Nepal, and even smaller in Russia.) Although there is a variety of larger mammals in India’s [...]
Tourist Killed Dot Com
Posted by jimheck in Safety, Terrorism, Tourism Trends on June 26, 2012
Saturday the U.S. and French governments issued special advisories warning their citizens about an imminent terrorist attack in the beach resort of Mombasa. Sunday the bomb went off; three died. A few days earlier in neighboring Tanzania, bandits held at gunpoint all 40 tourists in a downmarket camp just outside the Serengeti, robbed them then [...]
Down Now Up Later
Posted by jimheck in Tourism Trends on May 10, 2012
Americans increased their travel to all parts of the world for the first few months of this year, except to Africa. Africa stood out like a sore thumb, declining about 5%. Why, and what does the future now look like? Two months of a statistic does not a trend make, but what is critical is [...]
Failed Saviors
Posted by jimheck in Community Based Tourism, Tourism Trends, Wildlife Management, Wildlife Research on April 12, 2012
Are ecotourism and wildlife conservation in Africa so sacrosanct in the minds of their supporters that they’ve dodged proper regulation or perhaps even swerved off moral pathways? I obtained with pride a Conde Nast ecotourism award in 2004 for my client, Hoopoe Safaris of Tanzania. But in the decade since then my own ideas about [...]
Top Ten 2011 Africa Stories
Posted by jimheck in "Modern" Africa, African Awakening, Arts and Culture, Big Game, Botswana, Congo, Culture, Economy, Egypt, Environment, Nairobi, Perceptions of Africa, Poaching, Politics, Poverty, Refugees, Safety, Serengeti, South Africa, Sudan, Terrorism, Tourism Trends, Twevolution, Uganda, War, Weather, Wildlife Management, Zimbabwe on December 31, 2011
Twevolution, the Arab Spring [by Twitter] is universally considered the most important story of the year, much less just in Africa. But I believe the Kenyan invasion of Somalia will have as lasting an effect on Africa, so I’ve considered them both Number One. 1A: KENYA INVADES SOMALIA On October 18 Kenya invaded Somalia, where [...]
Vicious Village Visit
Posted by jimheck in "Modern" Africa, Culture, Stereotypes, Tourism Trends on December 29, 2011
Why do so many safari travelers want to “see a village?” A Paris exhibition may help explain the ugly urge of many travelers to witness depravity. The market for village visits is so strong that even today, when traditional villages just don’t exist, they are being reconstructed, and thousands of visitors return from Africa every [...]
Tourism, Come Clean!
Posted by jimheck in Planning Travel, Tourism Trends on November 10, 2011
Yesterday was World Responsible Tourism Day, until yesterday in my view one of the greatest tourist scams in my lifetime. But finally yesterday, Cape Town authorities saved the concept from the dustbin. Nevertheless, tourists beware! WTD began nearly 20 years ago with a mania by tourist companies to be labeled “ecotourism” companies. This was the [...]
War : Week 3
Posted by jimheck in Planning Travel, Safety, Somalia, Tourism Trends, War on November 7, 2011
It’s clear that a major battle is brewing, but it isn’t at all clear who is going to win. America is worried. Kenyans are growing increasingly anxious. More deaths, including tourists. The Thursday afternoon killing of a safari vehicle driver in the Shaba Reserve, and the wounding of a Swiss tourist inside, has no clear [...]
A Sacrifice So Far Far Away
Posted by jimheck in Economy, Planning Travel, Somalia, Terrorism, Tourism Trends, War on October 28, 2011
From far, far away, Kenya is being sacrificed to quell the war on terror. A young and dynamic, growing country with a tremendous future has been thrown to the wolves. The war in Somalia is not going well for Kenya. The army advance is bogged down, more aid workers and civilians have been kidnaped or [...]
Chant of the Impatient & Vanquished
Posted by jimheck in Planning Travel, Somalia, Terrorism, Tourism Trends, War on October 25, 2011
Within a week we’ll know whether the Kenyan invasion of Somalia is the true beginning of the end of al-Qaeda or the start of increased instability and terrorism in Kenya. I’m pretty pessimistic and damn mad. But the outcome of the battle of Kismayo will tell all. Kismayo is a city. A functioning, wealth-producing large [...]
Styles for Africa
Posted by jimheck in "Modern" Africa, Tourism Trends on October 7, 2011
I’m so tired of the incessant charges some of my less appreciative readers make of my understanding of the facts that today I’ll tackle one of my most solid areas of understanding: men’s fashion. In Kenya and the U.S. On safari or off. Over my many years as a guide, friends and family alike have [...]
Only The Best
Posted by jimheck in Economy, Tourism Trends on October 6, 2011
Years ago I guided teachers, bankers, students, lawyers and plumbers on safari. Now, I guide bankers, lawyers and brokers. What’s happened? It’s simple. Like so much in life, safaris have become too expensive for the average Joe. Now to be fair, it was never as easy for a teacher to go on safari as a [...]
How Not To Travel
Posted by jimheck in Safety, Terrorism, Tourism Trends on September 15, 2011
As we drove from the airport to the city last night, my newly arrived clients asked about the kidnaped British couple. The news isn’t good for Kenyan tourism, of course, but it isn’t surprising, either. The couple, Judith and David Tebutt, were vacationing at a lovely beach resort on the mainland opposite Lamu Island off [...]