The annual consumption of Coco-Cola per capita in the regional markets mentioned

As China’s vast interior gets richer, Grenda Lee, Coco-Cola’s Shanghai-based director of external affairs, finds herself dreaming about tapping the country’s rural market. Chinese peasants account for roughly 70 percent of China’s 1.3 billion people, but on average each drinks only three Coke products a year. That compares with some 60 drinks consumed annually in Shanghai and Beijing, 150 in Hong Kong and 420 in the United States. With so many customers at stake, potential profits take on epic scale.

Political tourism first took off in the 1980s, when activists, angry at the United States for propping up Central American dictators, began flocking to countries like Nicaragua and Honduras to see the result themselves. Groups such as the London-based Nicaragua Solidarity Network were only too happy to accommodate them. After returning home, activist tourists tended to take like-minded compatriots back to the region to express solidarity with a movement, act as international observers or simply educate foreigners on the consequences of cold-war policies.