Boycotting the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing in opposition to China's human rights records would not be a beneficial course of action, it has been suggested.
According to Caroline Phillips, Explore's product manager for Asia, tourism acts as an effective way to build ties between countries and can serve to build diplomatic dialogue.
Ms Phillips said that the travel firm had listened closely to consumer concerns about ethical issues surrounding travel to different countries, but she noted that for the most part, low-level tourism is at a remove from the political process.
"Many issues in China relate to national policy and politics rather than low-level tourism; there is thus no valid reason why boycotting the country would be in any way beneficial," she commented.
She added that objectivity was important as a tour operator and that customers should be allowed to travel to a country to make up their own minds.
According to statistics quoted by the Xinhua News Agency, around five million overseas tourists will visit China during the course of the Beijing Olympics.
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