To never want to visit Qatar?

I forgot that here in the U.K. it rains glitter and roses every day and there’s no embarrassing (fairly recent ) history of colonialism and slavery. It’s great that things like modern day slavery , racism and sexual exploitation, discrimination , abuse of power, poverty and policy issues no longer exist . I hope you’re all also boycotting every single other country with human rights issues - that might not leave you with many places to visit or benefit from , but at least you won’t be a hypocrite

So frustrating

It’s still happening - I can’t get out of the screen.

Currently in Qatar for a short break - warm, luxurious and hospitality second to none. Agree with some of the comments made on here but always feel that UK has its own issues. Btw it's just myself and my DD here and we feel welcome and respected.

You would have to stop giving money to pretty much every country in the world.

Don't be naive.

Stop giving money to countries that commit human-rights violations.

Do you think there are many countries that have never exploited and abused people? Honestly, so naive. All cultures have a history of this, some just happened to be better at it than others. The fact that places like this still do it flagrantly is vile, the only reason these middle Eastern shitscapes get away with it is because they have oil. They'd better develop some sort of civilisation before it runs out, because it won't last forever and the developed world won't be as ignorant of their abuses when ir does..

I didn't know about the invasive searches of the Australian women. Right, that's it, I'm never flying with Qatar Airlines.

I don't know why Westerners give their tourist pounds to dodgy regimes anyway. I'll never visit China, for example. A lot of these places would pull their socks up if everyone stopped visiting them. Nothing wrong with Switzerland or the Med.

I won't give my tourist money to China, India, and most Middle Eastern countries. (I'd like to visit Israel, although not at the moment.)

What's your beef with Japan?

I don’t know why these places are so popular. I went to Dubai once as my ex was working overseas and it was a convenient place to meet him. I saw some terrible treatment of local staff ‘or service workers’ as the guy who refused to reverse his car called them, and our hotel driver to reverse all the way down the street as this local guy refused. The driver said he was used to that kind of treatment when I said something.

We saw many other examples of poor treatment of the people who wait on all these rich holiday makers, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it. So I avoid going anywhere like that, there’s an undercurrent there that is not pleasant and many people don’t even notice it because they are too busy enjoying their holiday.

I’ve no desire to go to there or Dubai, Morocco, China, Japan etc. Plenty of other lovely places where people do have rights.

Slight aside: if you’d like to learn more about this, I suggest that in addition to the history of slavery you read up on the legacy of colonialism and the current impact of neo-colonialism. It might help you understand why much of what you wrote is not accurate.

To OP - Regarding the annoying pop-ups I think there’s a way to filter the sorts of ads that come up. I think the ads you see are in part based on data tracking, so what you search for online and what content you engage with most. When I was making a very niche purchase my feeds were suddenly and annoyingly spammed with stuff related to it. Not sure how to change/disable that except to just not engage with the content.

Went to Dubai many, many years ago it was a surpise booked by my DP at the time. I was bloody terrified. There wasn’t much there at the time, not like it is now.
We were told very stringently what was expected of us as guests.
So we basically spent a week not going near each other in public. I didn’t mind being covered up, I had no problem with that at all. And I have to say the local people we met were lovely - but of course they were staff in hotels and stores.
The bar and restaurant in our hotel was packed full of female Russian sex workers every night. I was a bit scared of them at first but by the end of the week I had spoken to a few. Let’s just say I felt sad at how they were living, even though a lot of money was involved.
The place had no soul, and I could not wait to get home.
I would never go back especially when there are so many places in the world that have far more history and culture.

I can’t totally understand your reasoning

you should look into how countries treat the people living there

you are likely to want to add many more to your list but some are often over looked

Has anyone worked out how to close ad or get rid of it. And is it only happening on mobile app?

My DH wanted us to go to Dubai on holiday. I told him that he has just to start comitting sins if he wants to go to hell, no way I'd pay for it.

Well, pretty much every country in the world has a history of slave labour and exploitation in myriad forms, the difference is most of them stopped some years ago while shitholes like these continue merrily.

One of the places in the world I deem a sandy shithole and would never go.

Every so often a post like this comes up with the overwhelming majority stating they would never visit Dubai or Qatar. Citing everything from weather, women’s rights, human rights, displays of wealth etc. If you don’t like a place don’t visit for whatever reason, no one is forcing you to. FWIW I’ve visited both and they were fine in their own ways, different than where I live but I expect that when I travel to new places. I’ve visited better and worse places. As an aside I’m always impressed that many posters say they’d never visit anywhere built and operating on slave labor - guess what Europe, North America and Australia were “built” on?

After what happened in Qatar, I have told my DH I will never transit through that whole region. I travel with a teen daughter and will not take her through there after that. I know it was a one off but the idea of that happening to her makes me ragey.

in defence - dc became very ill on plane. qatar was where we were scheduled to change flights. took dc to see a dr at the airport. gave us medicine and good quality care. all free and taken direct from plane to dr in an ambulance. so many countries are problematic. where can you actually say is a place that upholds women's rights and isn't corrupt? not the UK for sure. this ME bashing seems a bit naive and/or western superiority complex. people need to open their eyes and worry about what is going on here first. and no I don't mean free clothes for politicians. it runs a lot deeper.

You do know that Doha and Dubai are in different countries?

Years ago I transited through either Doha or Dubai. At that point they were into total sex apartheid. No women anywhere unless completely encased and part of the entourage of a male or two. So no women at all working there. So when I went to the women's room, there was a very embarrassed Indian-looking man cleaning sinks. I just about laughed out loud at the irony of sex apartheid creating a situation where men were in women's toilets. (And, yes, I've since always managed to find another route around the world through less psychotic societies.)

Oh, I think other cultures judge as well.

Well, personally I'd favour liberal democracies over theocratic dictatorships. Each to their own.