National Geographic ADVENTURE

Beyond Green Travel with Costas Christ Destination Report Card: Dubai

Text by Global Travel Editor Costas Christ

Some deserts bloom with flowers. Dubai’s desert blooms with outrageous tourism attractions.

With air-conditioned indoor ski slopes, lush golf courses, giant man-made islands shaped like palm trees, and plans to recreate the Seven Wonders of the World, Dubai wants to become the tourism center of the planet. And, as long as 240,000 barrels of oil a day keep pumping in the United Arab Emirates, only the sky is the limit for Dubai—actually, maybe not anymore, given they've nearly finished building the world’s tallest tower.

But can it possibly be sustainable? Just one of Dubai’s golf courses requires a million gallons of desalinated water a day to keep the grass green under a scorching sun.

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Beyond Green Travel With Costas Christ: In Bangkok, A $300,000 Dinner Causes Uproar

Text and photograph by Global Travel Editor Costas Christ

The pioneering ecotourism company CC Africa, whose mission is to “care for the land, care for the people, care for the animals,” hosted a summit in New York City this week to discuss if luxury travel can be a responsible form of tourism. Halfway around the world in Thailand, where I was recently, this topic has reached the tipping point.

On April 5, the posh Lebua Hotel in Bangkok invited 50 of the world’s richest travelers to a ten-course, $300,000 dinner on the hotel’s private rooftop. Six of Europe’s top chefs where flown in and paid $8,000 each for preparing the night’s menu. Guests dined on seafood risotto, scallops with truffles, and neck of Iberico pig, all washed down with prized vintage wines from France.

The only catch to this lavish feast was a requirement that the wealthy patrons also travel (by private jet) to a remote village in northern Thailand before sitting down to dinner.

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