I think I'm going to need a source for that...
On top of that, there's little tourism infrastructure in Mogadishu so I doubt that. There's basically Omar and Ali's Visit Mogadishu outfit and his guest house, and that's really about it.
I'm surprised I guess, BRQ airport has seasonal connections across Europe...
Not sure that counts - there's like 4 hotels in the whole area.
I'd love to see that video if you end up remembering which vlogger it was.
Any advice you might have for wandering off the beaten path into some of these villages?
I think this kind of thing is mostly viable because of the strength of Japan's land transit system.
I'd say it counts so long as they aren't basically closing for the off-season.
This response definitely took me by surprise too. I've heard it described as one of the most overrated, overtouristed places in Southeast Asia.
Highly recommend it, especially between the edges of off-season and shoulder season. I went to Fukushima and was basically one of two tourists in town (the other being a Rwandan artist-in-residence). When I was in Sendai in January, the most touristed attraction (Sendai Castle ruins) couldn't have had more than 40 visitors, and I remember taking a $10 airport limo bus to the hotel meant for 55 travelers, and I was the only one on it. I've made it a goal to visit Akita and Aomori in the future.
I remember visiting a youth summit here in Canada, and the Indonesian ambassador to Canada was present. I remember he got pretty exasperated that the only thing people in attendance knew about Indonesia was Bali (and thought it was Indonesia's capital), despite being the world's fourth largest country in population. He gave us all Indomie and ginger chews though - nice guy, but he got me hooked on Indomie for much of university.
Appreciate the thoughts. I'm not disagreeing with you I've heard Bhutan is debatable from a handful that have been there, simply because there's a sizable amount of tourism from India and Bangladesh. The infrastructure for getting around and staying overnight is definitely there, but the diversity of attractions is very limited as well (heavily focused around temples), so I feel like it's a bit of an edge case.
Since I heard this though, as I understand it, it appears that the freedom of movement for Indian citizens in Bhutan has been limited and the Sustainable Development Fee tax got reduced from 200 USD to 100 USD, because of how dramatically it impacted the amount of "high value tourism" they were getting.
I liked Solana Cain's new photo essay in the Globe and Mail today about Bhutan. I probably ought to put it on my radar.
NGL I’m in this thread for hidden gem places because crowds are awful and part of the reason I don’t travel.
I completely agree with you. I didn't really want to obliquely complain about "tourism" in general, the same way that complaining about traffic is an oxymoron - because if you're stuck in traffic, you ARE traffic.
By the time that a hidden gem gets out, it isn't long before it gets overtouristed and the crowds ruin it for me. Think Portugal - amazing country, but I could already start to see the negative impacts that my presence and tourism was having on Lisbon because I was one of the many that started arriving once Conde Naste Traveler and all the other travel publications started pitching Portugal as the must-see hidden gem. I didn't feel like I left my comfort zone at all - pretty much everything catered to tourists in some way.
On top of that, because of frequent flyer miles, I do have the option to getting to some of these places pretty reasonably cheaply since cash fares to some of these places are pretty silly.
None of these sources point to tourism promotion in Mogadishu.