Abandoned Afghan conflict zones turn vacation hotspots for ‘war tourists’

KABUL: Thousands of people are fleeing the conflict roiling Afghanistan, but American backpacker John Milton recently made the reverse journey to the war-ravaged country -- for a holiday.

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Armed with little more than travel guidebooks and an unflagging spirit of adventure, hardy bands of “war tourists” such as Milton visit Afghanistan’s pristine mountains and medieval ruins every year, ignoring warnings of kidnappings and bombings.

An attack on Thursday on a group of American and European tourists in western Herat province, which left some of them wounded, has brought into focus such global thrill-seekers who imperil their lives to vacation in war zones.

“Visiting conflict zones and off-the-beaten-path destinations is so much more rewarding than the usual global tourist destinations,” said Milton, 46, a former investment banker who visited Afghanistan in June this year and has also vacationed in Somalia and North Korea.

“(My) family and friends think I am a fool to take such risks but... if you are not willing to risk the unusual, then you will have to settle for the ordinary. I just don’t want to die without having any scars!”

Thursday’s attack prompted scorn on social media, with many questioning why the tourists were travelling overland at a time when most Western embassies warn their citizens against all travel in the country.

The owner of Hinterland Travel, a Britain-based adventure travel agency which reportedly organised the tour, was also said to be among the injured and was pilloried for what was widely perceived as recklessness.

But warzone tourism is hardly limited to Afghanistan.

In 2013, Japanese trucker Toshifumi Fujimoto, bored with his humdrum job, jaunted through the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo, telling AFP that his previous adventures had taken him through Yemen among other Middle East hotspots.