According to this list, Turkey ranks 6th in tourist destinations worldwide:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings#Most_vi...

I think the operative metric is how it would rank for US passport holders in a world where the us passport was entirely unrestricted. I.e. how much is the typical US passport holder losing out compared to their ideal preferences. I think the parent's point is accurate by that metric. I doubt that many Americans urgently desire to travel there compared to most other places. I would actually quibble more with Vietnam -- it seems like a fantastic tourist destination, similar in many respects to Thailand.

gruez said the countries on the list are “not worth travelling to“ and “not exactly on the top of most tourists’ list”, but if Turkey is the 6th most popular tourist destination in the world that’s obviously not true

>gruez said the countries on the list are “not worth travelling to“

correction: "most of the countries", and "at least for most people". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23977923

I agree that person's way of expressing their opinion was inelegant. But I'm trying to cut through to something true that they might have meant by what they said.

> not sure what the downvotes are about. maybe hn thinks that all countries are equal, and thinking otherwise is racist?

Downvotes are because you assumed certain countries are "not worth traveling to", when some of them consistently rank as fairly popular tourist destinations.

I said most of the countries, not all of them. In particular, Pakistan, Venezuela, Iran have "Reconsider Travel" or "Do Not Travel" on the state dept's website. Myanmar has "exercise caution" advisory, with certain regions having civil unrest.

> most of the additional countries aren't really umm... worth traveling to

> not sure what the downvotes are about. maybe hn thinks that all countries are equal, and thinking otherwise is racist?

You dismiss these countries as not worth traveling to, and seriously can't comprehend why you were downvoted? Wow some people just completely lack awareness.

Rudeness of such a statement aside, I've been to Vietnam and Turkey and they are fantastic countries. I would absolutely love to visit Myanmar and Iran as I've heard fantastic things. I've heard good things about Pakistan as well. Venezuela of course is unfortunately dangerous to travel to right now, but it is a beautiful country.

In any case, dismissing a country you know nothing about as "not worth traveling to" is rude and uncultured at best.

I'm not going to argue with most of that list but Vietnam is absolutely a growing tourist destination, with over 18 million international visitors in 2019[1] and nearly beating India in 2018[2].

It is particularly popular with Chinese visitors lately but also historically with the "Gap Year" backpackers from Europe who travel around Asia.

Incidentally it is a beautiful and incredibly friendly country and I highly recommend it.

[1] http7 s://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Vietnam#Tourism_statistics

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings

Turkey is a pretty popular tourist destination - good climate and one of the worlds most ancient civilizations.

> To add to this, most of the additional countries aren't really umm... worth traveling to, at least for most people.

This is a quite unfortunate attitude to have. Every country I've been to has something to offer, has helped me gain perspective and empathy with other people and has been "worth" traveling to.

I feel like you fixated on that part of the sentence and ignored the first part:

>I'm sure those countries have interesting places to go to and the people there are nice

The reality is that for most people, their time and money budgets are constrained, and they're optimizing for more than just "gaining perspective and empathy" (eg. they might just want to party/relax). As such, those countries are low on most people's list.

Pakistan was Condé Nast Traveller's best holiday destination for 2020.

Source: https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/best-holiday-destination...

American here, I've been to a number of the countries on that list that you say are not "worth traveling to," along with many other countries that you think are probably worth traveling to. I've really enjoyed the ones to which I've traveled and plan to go back. I won't pile on with the top tourist destinations, but check out the other responses for those, I'm just providing an anecdotal response from a tech worker.

> edit: not sure what the downvotes are about. maybe hn thinks that all countries are equal, and thinking otherwise is racist?

Your edit is bad by the way and a gross mischaracterization.

>American here, I've been to a number of the countries on that list that you say are not "worth traveling to,"

>Your edit is bad by the way and a gross mischaracterization.

Ironically your comment is also a mischaracterization. I never claimed that all of the countries on the list weren't worth going to. In addition, in the edit I was posing a question rather than making a statement.

Vietnam and Turkey are not worthwhile? And then goes the cliché about Americans...

> they're not exactly on the top of most tourists' list

Turkey is the #6 most visited country in the world, and Vietnam is also a popular tourist destination (#27 on the first list I found).

I'd love to travel to Pasargadae and Persepolis in Iran and Çatalhöyük, Ḫattuša, and the Hagia Sophia in Turkey. In fact, I'm likely to travel to Turkey when this pandemic is over and Iran if relations ever improve to the point where my American passport doesn't paint a target on my back.

Maybe you should examine your assumptions.

Vietnam and Turkey are actually very nice.

Vietnam and Turkey has tons of tourism.

Turkey is a very popular destination for Danish people.

I, for one, would very much like to visit Venezuela and Vietnam.