In China’s Xinjiang region, fake dinosaurs loom over visitors not far from where authorities have detained ethnic minorities in internment camps. In Shusha, Nagorno-Karabakh, the site of a bloody battle in 2020 now boasts renovated hotels. And in Kashmir, India recently hosted a G-20 summit on tourism, despite ongoing separatist violence in the region.

This edition of Flash Points explores the push to bring tourism to unlikely destinations around the world, as well as the political, economic, and diplomatic factors that drive governments to create—or revive—tourist traps.—Chloe Hadavas

China Is Turning a Crushed Xinjiang Into a Tourist Trap

After years of human rights abuses, Beijing wants Han visitors in the region, Eva Xiao writes.

Modi Wants to Bring Tourists Back to Kashmir

India’s government wants to turn the war-torn region into a renewed tourist hot spot, David Lepeska writes.

From the Ruins of War, a Tourist Resort Emerges

Shusha was the key to the recent war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Now Baku wants to turn the fabled fortress town into a resort, Liz Cookman writes.

Can Kazakhstan Bury Its Nuclear Past?

Forgetting the site where Russia became a nuclear power comes with its own risks, Cheryl L. Reed writes.

The Other Magic Kingdom

Saudi Arabia is making a very risky bet that it can become an international tourist destination, Adam Baron writes.