boycott

Luxury Travel to Scotland: Affected by Lockerbie Bomber's Release?

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Crimes and Misdemeanors

Last week, I was planning to write about Dream Escape, an exclusive luxury travel outfit that organizes completely customized tours of Scotland. (Says David Tobin, owner: "many companies offer "bespoke" travel, but I've gone the route of "couture". We start from scratch around what our client's want, whether it's a two-day trip for two people, or a six day trip for 200.") Even if you're arriving in Scotland without Tobin's incredibly hands-on service, which includes a UK cellphone pre-programmed, and should you desire, a photographer, or even a genealogist among other essentials, I've long maintained that Scotland is one of the best destinations to truly feel like you're a Master of the Universe.

There's something about Scotland's mix of castles, golf, whiskey, landscape and royal history that feels to me like getting wrapped in a cloak of wealth, power and prestige. Just one example, Royal Yacht Britannia -- decommissioned from royal use since 1997, now a tourist attraction in Edinburgh. Everyone can visit it for a tour, but once can arrange private access to the state apartments for events and be served to exacting royal protocol, which includes measuring the distance between cutlery with a ruler, among other measures designed to make anyone of royal descent or aspiration feel comfy. (For instance, sailors were made to use hand signals rather than shouting, to preserve royal tranquility. Effectively, apparently, since Her Majesty stated: "Britannia is the one place where I can truly relax".)

Dream Escape can arrange access to the Royal Yacht -- and to an endless number of luxey Scottish attractions, see the gallery for more -- but as I sat down to write about it last week, Scotland, made international headlines for its release of the only man convicted of the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, who returned to Libya as a hero. I've heard talk of boycotting Scottish travel, and whiskey -- and it just felt strange to write enthusiastically about Scotland without addressing all this directly.

So yesterday, I chatted with David Tobin to see how it was affecting his business, considering that he brings anywhere between 100 and 300 visitors to Scotland each year. His answer, in a nutshell: not at all. "We haven't seen a downturn or have clients change their plans or anything like that," he says. "My clients want to go somewhere because they want to go, and they're suitably educated to understand that this is a murky area, surrounding [al-Megrahi's] release. This won't change my client's perception of Scotland, they love the country, but not necessarily the politicians." He doesn't expect any cancellations of bookings in the future.

Of course, Tobin's company is small, and very high end at that -- and it remains to be seen whether Scottish tourism as a whole will be affected by the bomber's release. Do you think luxury tourism to Scotland will be affected by current politics? Should it?

Gallery: Dream Escape Scotland

Night at Corrour Lodge, Modern Scottish Castle

Luxury Suite at The Witchery in Edinburgh

Tags: boycott, controversy, scotland, tour, yacht

Will A Whisky Ban Hurt Scotland?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

It hasn't been the best year for the whisky industry, now whisky makers in Scotland have a boycott to worry about. People who are angry about Scotland's decision to free the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber are calling on U.S. citizens to boycott Scottish and British companies.

A website called Boycott Scotland issues a call to action advocating a ban of Scottish products. The U.S. is Scotland's biggest trading partner. David Williamson of the Scottish Whiskey Association has said that he doesn't believe that there will be any long-term damage to the Scotland's whisky business. But the timing is unfortunate, Scotland is currently in the midst of a tourism push called "Year of Homecoming" which encourages anyone of Scottish descent to visit.

Will You Boycott Scottish Products?
Yes	124 (27.7%)
No	286 (63.8%)
Not Sure	38 (8.5%)

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Tags: boycott, lockerbie, scotland, whisky

Protesters Urge Leviev Diamonds Boycott

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

Those hoping to dash into the Leviev store on Madison Avenue in New York City on Saturday found themselves running a bit of a gauntlet. National Jeweler reports that around 45 pro-Palestinian protesters clustered outside the store urging shoppers to boycott the jewelry store, which is owned by Israeli diamond king Lev Leviev. The group, Adalah-NY has protested in front of Leviev's store seven times since it opened last November (the pieces shown above were displayed during the store opening). They chose last Saturday to make their case to shoppers on a pre-Valentine's day shopping quest. The group says that Leviev, who is also a real estate developer, is building Israeli settlements on what they claim is occupied Palestinian land. Protesters also boycotted outside Leviev's London store (perhaps a more cutting blow since Leviev recently moved to London.

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Tags: boycott, expire-images:2009-2-11, israel, lev leviev, LevLeviev, new york, palestine, protest

Jay-Z Leads Cristal Boycott

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine, Celebrity Shopping

If you ever plan to hang out with Jay-Z don't order Cristal. The popular rapper has announced that he will no longer serve Cristal Champagne at his 40/40 club and will lead a boycott against the popular bubbly. The boycott is in response to comments made by Frederic Rouzaud, the managing director of Louis Roderer Cristal in The Economist. Rouzand made it clear that he is no fan of the brand's association with hip-hop, describing the namechecking of the brand in songs as "unwelcome attention." Jay-Z has issued a statement saying that Rouzand's comments are racist and that he will no longer support the brand.

[via ONTD]

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Tags: boycott, champagne, cristal, jay-z