Comments on: My Picks: 4 Unexpected Travel Destinations You Can Visit Before They Become Hits

By: Anil Polat

Anil Polat — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 06:40:54 +0000

In reply to Katie Martin. Oman is definitely one of the most visually unique places I've visited and I would highly recommend it - before it gets loaded with tourists! The country is making a big push to draw in more travelers so that might be quite soon.

By: Katie Martin

Katie Martin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:54:05 +0000

I really like this list! I read a lot of travel blogs and I feel like I hear about the same places over and over again. But besides the Philippines, I had not heard really anything about the other three places. All of these locations sound like really interesting places to go. For some reason I’m now really drawn to Oman, even though I’ve never really wanted to go anywhere in the Middle East/Gulf Region. You just made it sound so interesting and exotic. I also think Chile would be so amazing because if you go from top to bottom you can go from more tropical to basically Antarctic, all in the same country! So cool.

By: Anil Polat

Anil Polat — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:59:59 +0000

In reply to Tim. I think it has less to do with geography than politics, promotion, and perception in the cases of the Philippines and Indonesia. Oman is a beautiful country and the weather is quite pleasant in the early spring months. They've begun a pretty focused travel promotion effort and it will be interesting to see the results in 5-10 years.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:10:10 +0000

I think that the Philippines are too diverse to become a hit. I mean, there are too many islands there and even if some larger islands become popular, it won’t happen with all larger islands (it’s the same with Indonesia, even though Bali is very popular it doesn’t mean that the whole country is a “hit”).

Oman and Chile sound really interesting. I’ve heard some good things about Oman (and warm climate definitely helps!).

By: Anil Polat

Anil Polat — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 11:27:18 +0000

In reply to Summer.

But the tensions go both ways and it’s a complicated matter; more so than I can express in a few lines in a comment. That said, the fact that the north is in the situation it is in is where the tensions stem from. I didn’t go into specifics but obviously the political situation is the source of everything you mention. In a sense we are making the same argument.

I don’t think what I’ve written in this post or the others romanticizes the north either. That said, maybe you didn’t REALLY read what I’ve written.