Destinations

Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, long a popular destination for tourists, is closing off some private-property alleys in its famous geisha district because of complaints about misbehaving visitors. Tourists crowd the narrow, quaint streets of the area called Gion, often following tour guides who show people around and lecture for long hours, local district official Isokazu Ota says, adding, “We are going to put up signs in April that tell tourists to stay out of our private streets.”  

For those whose bucket list is beckoning, there may be no better time to travel to Egypt – a destination that our recent Goway FAM group found utterly unaffected by the ongoing situation in Gaza, but which is nevertheless experiencing a dip in tourism that has created an unintended silver lining of fewer fellow visitors for those who do go.

With the pandemic firmly behind it, Japan is uniformly rated as one of 2024’s most desired destinations, and one of the most tantalizing features of a visit is seeing sakura – cherry blossoms – which paint the landscape in cities and countryside a magnificent pale pink from March through May. 

Located on the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula, Los Cabos might be the “most isolated” region of Mexico – “you have to come by air,” notes the managing director of the region’s tourist board, Rodrigo Esponda – but Canadians clearly have no trouble finding the vacation hotspot.

The cruise ships dot the Nile like planes coming into an airport, though the procession belies the fact that they are operating at half capacity or less as Egyptian tourism continues to be rocked by the country’s perceived proximity to the war in Palestine – despite the fact that the distance from Gaza to Giza is close to 500 km., and through the Sinai desert no less.