Arnie Weissmann
I spent last week in the small African nation of Lesotho, traveling with journalist Peter Greenberg and a production crew filming a documentary for his PBS series, "The Royal Tour." That show's concept has the head of state of a nation act as Greenberg's guide to highlight the country's attractions.
For this episode, which will air in September, Greenberg was led through Lesotho by its king, Letsie III. The country, which is completely surrounded by South Africa, has an average elevation of over 3,000 feet. Its mountainous terrain is stunning and its cultural offerings unique.
Currently, annual visitation is modest: 960,000 in 2024, the most recent year for which stats are available, and the 2026 target was to top a million. After seeing what it has to offer, I have little doubt that Greenberg's show, when it airs, will give tourism a significant boost.
While I was there, I spoke with the king, residents, visitors, tourism officials and diplomats and, not surprisingly, the war in Iran came up time and again. Everyone I spoke with was very diplomatic and took pains not to criticize the U.S.'s role in the war's origins, instead framing their remarks in terms of impacts that they were seeing in Lesotho.
In last year's State of the Union address, when President Trump rationalized cuts to USAID, he singled out a program in Lesotho, calling it a country "which nobody has ever heard of." "Nobody" is an exaggeration, but he's not far off the mark. "Where's that?" was the most common follow-up question I heard when I told people I was going there.
But tourism to small countries can be every bit as important to their economies as it is to large countries. Perhaps more important. One can assume that the vast majority of the $600 million daily cost of the Iran war to travel and tourism is borne by major tourism destinations, but the toll to smaller nations with emerging tourism sectors may be disproportionately greater.
Much of the war's direct costs on global tourism comes from the cancellation of flights on Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad. Indeed, most visitors reach Lesotho by air via Johannesburg, and until flights by Middle East carriers return to normal, lift has been impacted severely. (Outbound as well as inbound: The Royal Tours' director, John Feist, was scrambling to find an alternative departure after his Etihad return flight to the States was canceled.)
Tourism is a priority in Lesotho for many of the same reasons as in developed countries: it's considered an export in balance of trade, tourism jobs can't be "offshored," visitors contribute to tax bases that would otherwise be shouldered by residents alone.
One diplomat stationed in Lesotho's capital, Maseru, told me, "The expected hikes in fuel prices and potential inflation (as a result of the Iran war) will certainly have a negative, and potentially severe, economic impact" in Lesotho.
But the diplomat, who requested anonymity, felt hopeful about the potential for tourism once global tensions subside. "The government is trying to enable a conducive environment to develop tourism. From an investment perspective, there seems to be plenty of opportunity for sustainable, well-managed tourism to experience nature and a culture that is very different from the rest of the continent.
"The kingdom has dramatic high-altitude landscapes that I have not seen anywhere else," the diplomat continued. "This could be used for adventure tourism, hiking, photography, pony trekking, etc. There is skiing [during the Northern Hemisphere's summer]. Lesotho's remoteness itself is a pull factor for those looking for something different."
Tourism employs about 25,000 people and represents 5.5% of the country's GDP. The government had singled it out for investment in its "economic transformation" budget. But global events have, for the time being, slowed growth.
I heard firsthand from a driver about how a reduction in tourism is already impacting his family: Fewer visitors means less work, but bills related to his young children's education do not stop coming in. Rising fuel prices impact not only the cost of gasoline but, it seemed to him, the price of day-to-day necessities.
When I sat down to interview the king at his residence, most of our conversation was about the country's attractions, but the impact of the war did come up.
"Unfortunately, we cannot isolate ourselves from what's going on in the world," he said. "We are very much affected by things that are happening in our neighborhood and internationally. The price of oil has gone up, and my worry is that air travel will become more expensive, and that will affect people's appetite to travel.
"We just hope that the conflict will end soon, the price of oil will come down and people will feel more secure," the king added. "Then, hopefully, we'll be able to show them what we have and they can pay us a visit."