Lonely Planet Mozambique (Lonely Planet Mozambique)

Rating:
Summary: Keep the Facts Dispense with the Politics
Review: Lonely Planet books are always interesting to browse through. Most of the time they do stick to giving you the facts about a country and I do appreciate it. However, Lonely Planet's editors often like to mix their left wing politics with travel. The result are sections like "Responsible Tourism" that at best are paternalistic to the reader and at worst wrong. In this section it is suggested that the tourist seek out "locally run and owned" establishments and patronize them instead of foreign owned businesses. First of all if you can tell a foreign owned from a local owned perhaps it's because the standards are different. Secondly, why would you choose a lessor value (weighing in price and quality of the product together) when picking a hotel for instance? Where you stay is part of the experience and it may not be worth residing in some dank crummy hotel for the sake of patronizing a local business. The reason why countries like Mozambique never worked out economically in the past (and now are trying to change) is because their leaders applied the same kind of dim ignorant thinking displayed by Lonely Planet writers.

I have traveled to many People's Republics and the idea of a business supplying a valued product to a customer was often lacking. Businesses were simply suppose to provide jobs and no attention to efficiency or quality was made. This is exactly why these economies floundered in the past; they could not make things to market standards, their use of material resources and labor was so poor that they could only pay workers a pittance and could only pawn off their wares to captive populations. A successful economy has businesses that typically concentrate on providing value to the customer first - that is you the traveler. By doing so a business will insure that it employs local people and contributes to the local economy. Demanding that local enterprises match the value of foreign firms will help the country. Local entrepreneurs and workers will adopt the right business standards and work ethics to economically succeed.

Rating:
Summary: Truly a vital tool for visitors to this revitalized nation !
Review: Mozambique has only recently re-opened to tourism, after years of war and bloodshed. Fortunately the hard times are now over, and the country is once again a thriving, wonderful African nation. I loved it all - the people, the food, the music... With this Lonely Planet guide, I was really able to get the most out of my stay. It contains plenty of advice on visiting places, hotels, restaurants, etc. And also great advice on how to save money - indeed, Mozambique can be very expensive ! A country and a book I won't forget.