In the Caucasus, as across mountainous borderlands, ancient identities and modern geopolitics create intricate patterns of conflict and cooperation. The Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh represents one of the post-Soviet space's most intractable frozen conflicts, rooted in competing territorial claims, ethnic demographics, and historical grievances extending back centuries. The territory's status remained contested following the Soviet collapse, with Armenian forces controlling the region from the early 1990s until Azerbaijan's military victories in 2020 and 2023.

The corporate involvement of recognizable Western travel brands distinguishes this case from previous instances of disputed territory tourism. While smaller regional operators have long facilitated travel to contested areas, the participation of GetYourGuide and Tripadvisor's Viator platform represents mainstream commercialization of access to recently cleansed lands. These platforms serve millions of European and American travelers annually, giving Karabakh tours visibility among conventional city breaks and museum visits.

GetYourGuide has not responded to inquiries about its vetting procedures for tours in disputed or recently conflict-affected territories. The company's terms of service do not explicitly address territories subject to ethnic cleansing or ongoing international dispute. Tripadvisor, which owns Viator, similarly declined to comment on whether it applies special review standards to tours in areas from which populations were recently expelled.

The business ethics questions extend beyond individual platforms to the broader tourism industry's approach to conflict zones and disputed territories. International travel associations lack binding standards for tours to ethnically cleansed areas, leaving individual companies to determine acceptable practices. The absence of industry-wide guidelines allows each platform to make independent determinations about which territories and narratives to support through their commercial infrastructure.

For the displaced Armenian population, now scattered across Armenia and the diaspora, the tourism packages represent a particularly bitter form of erasure. Families who fled with only personal belongings now see their ancestral villages and towns marketed as tourist attractions under a narrative that denies their historical presence. The commercialization compounds the displacement itself, transforming personal and collective trauma into curated experiences for foreign visitors.

The situation highlights tensions between state sovereignty claims and international humanitarian principles regarding forced population displacement. While Azerbaijan asserts legitimate territorial control over Nagorno-Karabakh under international law, the manner of reasserting that control and the subsequent population displacement remain subjects of international scrutiny. Western companies participating in the tourism economy effectively validate Azerbaijan's narrative while profiting from the outcome of ethnic cleansing.

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