Middle East! Get Your Act Together!

With all of the conflict happening in various parts of the Middle East, I can’t help thinking that they are missing out on a huge financial boost from tourism.

Look at the success of places like Dubai, a haven in the middle of some of the most dangerous countries in the world right now. A place I have travelled to twice, both on a cruise, and as a holiday destination. It oozes quality, and has amazing weather to boot.

But to the immediate North of Dubai, sits Iran, which shares its borders with Afghanistan and Iraq, and lies just a stones throw from Syria & Israel, all of which at the moment are places that you probably wouldn’t fancy going to on holiday.

The thing is, these countries, with the exception of land locked Afghanistan, all have coastlines which for a tourist is pretty important, but more so for a cruiser! No doubt that if these countries didn’t have these problems, that the cruise lines would be going there, thus bringing a huge amount to the Middle Eastern economy.

Dubai is tried and tested, along with neighbouring Oman, and of course we all know the success nearby Turkey has had in the past with tourism, again though, another country these days affected by fighting.

So what’s the problem?

Religion? Oil? Money? Or just a general hatred of the West? Quite frankly, these reasons have no place in modern day society when it comes to tourism.

The Middle East and the West must sort out there issues before it’s too late. After the recent tragedy in my home city of Manchester, amongst other atrocities in other European cities, it’s clear that that certain isolated groups are always going to be a problem, but countries will always have these extreme groups, IRA, Basque Separatists, KKK etc etc but these groups have never stopped us going to their countries of origin, so why let it be a problem anywhere else.

I think the powers that be in the Middle East have to push tourism and get people interested in their home nations. Give them something to visit for.

Look at it this way, what did Nevada have before Vegas? What did Orlando have before Disney?

I’ve not even touched on the areas of outstanding natural beauty of this Middle Eastern countries, The Gulf, The Caspian Sea, The Taurus & Zagros Mountains and so on….

There is much to see and learn about these places if we can just get over this archaic conflict period and move on.

Why can’t we all just be friends?

Thanks for reading and as always, until next time…….