Reports of brutal
rapes of foreign tourists in India and Brazil in recent months have rocked the
international travel industry.
According to data
cited by The Atlantic, visitors to India have dropped 25 percent since
December's fatal gang-rape of a young woman on a bus in the capital of New
Delhi, and 35 percent among female travelers. And that data was compiled before
March 16, when a Swiss woman who was touring the central Indian state of Madhya
Pradesh by bicycle with her husband was gang-raped by a group of eight men.
In Madhya Pradesh,
there are nine reported rapes every day, according to the Washington Post.
In Brazil, where
an American tourist was raped by three men over the course of six hours on
Monday, reports of rapes there have risen 150 percent since 2009, The Atlantic
reported.
Not surprisingly,
Brazil and India are among the most dangerous places to travel, according to an
interactive map produced by Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs.
But they're not
the most dangerous: North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Mali, Niger,
Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Somalia are where would-be
tourists are warned to "avoid all travel."
For other
countries, like Libya, visitors are cautioned to "avoid non-essential
travel."
The color-coded
danger map also includes region- and time-specific warnings. In Pakistan,
tourists are told to avoid:
- areas reporting
military or militant activity;
- all border areas, except the Wagha official
border crossing point;
- Kashmir region, including Azad Kashmir;
- the province of Baluchistan, including the
city of Quetta;
- the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, including
Swat, the city of Peshawar and the Khyber Pass;
- and the Federally Administered Tribal Area
In Mexico, those
"required to travel to Monterrey, in the state of Nuevo León, should avoid
movement after dark and stay within the suburb of San Pedro Garza García."
So where, exactly,
is it safe to travel? Australia, Botswana, Canada, Chile, most of Europe,
Greenland, Iceland, New Zealand, Malaysia, South Korea, the United States and
Uruguay, according to the agency.
"No matter
where in the world you intend to travel," the department's website
advises, "make sure you check the travel advice and advisories page twice:
once when you are planning your trip, and again shortly before you leave. ...
The decision to travel is the sole responsibility of the individual."
No comments:
Post a Comment