Twelve years ago 23-year-old Brit James Thornton left a lucrative investment career to join Intrepid Travel, an Australian start-up that is now the world leader in sustainable adventure travel.
Q. Intrepid runs tours to North Korea, but doesn't this constitute tacit support for a murderous dictatorship?
A. While the decision to boycott a country famed for human rights violations might seem like an easy one, it's not necessarily the most ethical.
Even 'good' countries like Australia have human rights records, so where do we draw the line on whether a country is good or bad? And can tourism be a force for good?
The ethics of visiting North Korea was the subject of a huge company-wide debate at Intrepid that considered views of local operators, past travellers, as well as human rights experts.
We voted to go ahead with running trips that include as much genuine real-life local interaction as we can, because this style of travel exposes both our travellers and North Koreans to the reality that we are all human, not media caricatures.
This type of authentic interaction is limited, but it does exist. We genuinely believe that travel connects people, it makes us less prejudiced and more empathetic. We need more of that in the world right now.
