Good news in travel & tourism May 2022

“Good news in travel & tour­ism” wraps up a month of “Good Tour­ism” & “GT” Travel news, insights, and experiences.

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• “Good Tour­ism” Insights
• Good news from friends
  Glob­al | Africa | Asia
• Friends indeed

“GT” Insights: Informed perspectives on the industry

The “Good Tour­ism” Blog pub­lishes informed opin­ions on the issues facing the travel & tour­ism industry, everyone’s busi­ness. “GT” Insights are diverse per­spect­ives writ­ten by, for, and about our sec­tor. Here are the latest:

To revitalise destinations, awaken the senses

In a glob­al­ised world in which if sub­urb­an shop­ping centres on oppos­ite sides of the plan­et were to switch places overnight there would be very few dif­fer­ences for loc­als to get used to, what does it take to rebuild unique­ness in des­tin­a­tions? Michael Hay­wood appeals to the senses, in “To revital­ise des­tin­a­tions, awaken the senses”.

What do non-fungible tokens, natural habitats, & tourism experiences have in common?

A rel­at­ively new form of digit­al own­er­ship, non-fun­gible tokens (NFTs) have not only been attract­ing head­lines, but also the ima­gin­a­tions of those who would advance envir­on­ment­al causes that are close to their hearts. There are oppor­tun­it­ies for travel & tour­ism too, accord­ing to Lauren Uğur and Richard Powazyn­ski, in “What do non-fun­gible tokens, nat­ur­al hab­it­ats, & tour­ism exper­i­ences have in common?”

Unhiding Hirapur: A case study in cultural heritage tourism development

How does an insti­tu­tion of the Min­istry of Tour­ism, Gov­ern­ment of India trans­form under­ap­pre­ci­ated cul­tur­al her­it­age into a tour­ism attrac­tion? Ady­asha Das shares an insight, in “Unhid­ing Hirapur: A case study in cul­tur­al her­it­age tour­ism devel­op­ment”.

“Good Tourism” is where free thought travels

Did you ever want to write a thought­ful piece about the state of the tour­ism industry; how we got here; how we can make it bet­ter (or avoid the worst)?

Has a lack of con­fid­ence in your writ­ing held you back? Well, please don’t let it. 

Your cor­res­pond­ent is here to help you pub­lish your “GT” Insight, just as I’ve helped pro­fess­ors trans­late their Aca­damese into plain Eng­lish; just as I’ve helped those for whom Eng­lish is their second (or more) language. 

If you sub­mit a draft that com­plies with the simple “GT” Insight guidelines, I will per­son­ally copy edit your work and ensure you are happy with it before I click “Pub­lish”.

It’s part of “GT’s” mis­sion to offer a plat­form for truly diverse perspectives.

“GT” Travel Experiences: Informed inspiration for travellers

The “Good Tour­ism” Blog’s young sib­ling The “GT” Travel Blog pub­lishes informed inspir­a­tion and top tips for trav­el­lers from tour­ism insiders. There will be fresh “GT” Travel Exper­i­ences com­ing soon.

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Good news from friends

Good news in travel & tour­ism from the won­der­ful organ­isa­tions that make “GT” pos­sible. Here is some of what happened this month in the “Good Tour­ism” network:

Global good news in travel & tourism

‘It’s almost too late’: SUNx’ May news­let­ter out now
The May 2022 edi­tion of eXist is out now, fea­tur­ing Geof­frey Lip­man detail­ing key find­ings of the latest IPCC Report; inter­views with Cli­mate Friendly Travel (CFT) stake­hold­ers; a spe­cial fea­ture on the Cli­mate Friendly Travel Com­munity Frame­work; and con­clu­sions of the 2nd Strong Earth Youth Summit.

How does tour­ism impact com­munit­ies near major tour­ism attrac­tions?
CABI’s new­est book Tour­ism Trans­form­a­tions in Pro­tec­ted Area Gate­way Com­munit­ies provides “informed approaches to tour­ism man­age­ment using loc­al exper­i­ences from gate­way com­munit­ies and pro­tec­ted areas management”.

Can sum­mer des­tin­a­tions repeat their suc­cess in winter?
“Extreme or unpre­dict­able weath­er may be viewed as unfa­vour­able for attract­ing vis­it­ors. How­ever, even seem­ingly inclement cli­mate con­di­tions can be used as a resource in tour­ism.” A new CABI tour­ism case looks at how cold cli­mates and the winter sea­son present both a chal­lenge and an oppor­tun­ity for tour­ism, and how The Forks Nation­al His­tor­ic Site in Canada became a cold-weath­er attraction.

Geof­frey Lip­man’s takeaways from SUNx Malta’s second Strong Earth Youth Sum­mit
Maurice Strong was cor­rect 50 years ago when he warned that cli­mate change was exist­en­tial; The IPCC says we’re run­ning out of time; Declar­a­tions should tar­get halv­ing GHG by 2030, zero GHG by 2050; We need a moon­shot for zero GHG avi­ation by 2050; SUNx’ mis­sion to sup­port the SDG (2030) and Par­is 1.5 (2050) is ok but we need to keep it simple to con­vince tour­ism stake­hold­ers; Young people “get it”. SEYS.

The second Strong Earth Youth Sum­mit (SEYS), April 29, focussed on the latest IPCC report, cli­mate-friendly travel, and how youth can build a cli­mate-resi­li­ent future for tour­ism. Attendees received the Earth Charter and a copy of the book Remem­ber­ing Maurice F Strong — after whom SUNx and SEYS are named — 50 years since the Stock­holm Earth Sum­mit that he organised.

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Good news in travel & tourism from Africa

Phil­an­thropy, employ­ment, mean­ing­ful change in South Africa
How much mean­ing­ful change would a private com­pany make over 25 years by act­ively chan­nel­ing dona­tions into their loc­al com­munity? Find out, with CABI Tour­ism Cases’ latest from South Africa.

Join the Red Rocks Sum­mer Party
If you’re in Rwanda, June 4, join the Red Rocks Sum­mer Party, which will include a mar­ket, DJs spin­ning Afro beats and glob­al sounds, cul­tur­al dance and music per­form­ances, an art exhib­i­tion, and fresh organ­ic pro­duce from the North­ern Province lend­ing their fla­vours to dishes from across the land.

Red Rocks Rwanda links tour­ism, cul­ture, con­ser­va­tion, and well-being
Red Rocks Rwanda is now offer­ing study tours in col­lab­or­a­tion with its part­ners. The tours will focus on shar­ing stor­ies, exper­i­ences, and know­ledge about cul­ture and con­ser­va­tion. Com­munity well-being is a tar­get out­come too, as it is hoped that the tours will build con­fid­ence with­in com­munit­ies, drive inter­ac­tions, and encour­age com­munity par­ti­cip­a­tion in plan­ning, devel­op­ment, and operations.

Red Rocks pro­motes sports for con­ser­va­tion in Rwanda
Red Rocks Ini­ti­at­ive has formed loc­al teams in ten­nis, bas­ket­ball, table ten­nis, and even chess, to help raise aware­ness of con­ser­va­tion. Sports “encour­age healthy liv­ing habits and unite com­munit­ies in safe­guard­ing Rwanda’s Nation­al Parks and wild­life”, the not-for-profit reck­ons. Red Rocks’ focus is on young people liv­ing adja­cent to the Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park, home of the endangered moun­tain gorillas.”

Off Sea­son Adven­tures’ Rwandan trips include tea plant­a­tions
Many of Off Sea­son Adven­tures’ Rwandan itin­er­ar­ies include a vis­it to a loc­al tea plant­a­tion. “Tea is an import­ant export for the coun­try, and they pro­duce some of the best in the world. An exper­i­ence will take you through the whole pro­cess, start­ing with pick­ing tea in the fields, dry­ing, and qual­ity assurance.”

Red Rocks part­ners with Rwandan cof­fee pro­du­cers
“Red Rocks Ini­ti­at­ive is grate­ful for and proud of the valu­able co-oper­a­tion with Gic­umbi Cof­fee in improv­ing the sus­tain­ab­il­ity of cof­fee grow­ing and farm­ing com­munit­ies’ live­li­hoods. We are happy of the achieve­ments and proud of all our farm­er part­ners for mak­ing it hap­pen on their farms and communities.”

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Good news in travel & tourism from Asia

Travel to Asia is back: Khiri Travel
All of Khiri Travel’s des­tin­a­tions, with the excep­tion of Myan­mar, are now fully open to vac­cin­ated trav­el­lers. “No test is needed for entry into Sri Lanka, the Mal­dives, Cam­bod­ia, Laos, and Thai­l­and. For the time being, only Viet­nam and Indone­sia still need trav­el­lers to take a test before departure.”

South­east Asi­an tour­ism hygiene guidelines in time for recov­ery
“ASSET H&C mem­bers are com­mit­ted to pro­tect­ing trav­el­lers, our future tour­ism work­force, and our loc­al com­munit­ies by abid­ing by ASEAN’s safety and health pro­to­cols,” asser­ted the “GT” Part­ner as it relayed news of the release of the Asso­ci­ation of South­east Asi­an Nations’ Guidelines on Hygiene and Safety for Pro­fes­sion­als and Com­munit­ies in the Tour­ism Industry.

Laos goes all in on reopen­ing: We Are Lao
Laos has reopened its bor­ders since May 9. Vac­cin­ated pas­sen­gers can enter without test­ing. Full inform­a­tion repor­ted by We Are Lao. Earli­er, Laos’ Nation­al Taskforce for COVID-19 Pre­ven­tion and Con­trol sought input from people of all walks of life, includ­ing for­eign nation­als, over the pro­posed reopen­ing of the country’s borders.

Thai­l­and drops COVID test­ing for fully-vac­cin­ated trav­el­lers
Khiri Travel Thai­l­and reports that, from May 1, inter­na­tion­al trav­el­lers who are fully vac­cin­ated will no longer be required to show proof of a pre-depar­ture neg­at­ive RT-PCR test nor will they under­go a test upon arrival in the King­dom. They are still required to register for a Thai­l­and Pass before departure.

Nepal’s tour­ism bounces back strongly
Plan­et Hap­pi­ness’ Paul Rogers won­ders what Nepal’s peak month of Octo­ber is going to be like giv­en that now it is already “BUSY, BUSY, BUSY”. It is only a few weeks since entry restric­tions star­ted eas­ing yet vis­it­or num­bers are “almost at capa­city in the key overnight stops on the way to the Sagarmatha (Mt Everest) base­camp and Kala Patar”. Read his ninth report from the field.

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp tells award-win­ning con­ser­va­tion story
Car­damom Ten­ted Camp eco­lodge was 1st run­ner up in the Nature and Eco­tour­ism cat­egory in the Green Des­tin­a­tions 2022 Story Awards at ITB Ber­lin. In this video, Willem Niemeijer explains the unique con­ser­va­tion mod­el on which the multi-award win­ning Cam­bod­i­an camp was foun­ded. Mr Niemeijer is the CEO of camp oper­at­or YAANA Ventures.

OSA and part­ner plan a spir­itu­al retreat to Nepal
“Nepal is home to a myri­ad of cen­tur­ies-old cul­tures […] Its his­tory, rooted in a meld­ing of beliefs, has cre­ated a unique cul­ture of coex­ist­ence.” Join Off Sea­son Adven­tures and Fresh Trav­el­er on their ‘Spir­itu­al Retreat to Nepal’ next January.

ASSET H&C helped social busi­ness devel­op online busi­ness
ASSET H&C’s sup­ports its mem­bers “tech­nic­ally and fin­an­cially to #REGENERATE after crisis”. Dur­ing lock­downs, ASSET H&C helped An Rê Mai Sen Hos­pit­al­ity Train­ing Cen­ter in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet­nam set up an online order­ing and deliv­ery sys­tem to sus­tain its social busi­ness activities. 

‘Cam­bod­i­an culin­ary delights’: ‘Khiri Pulse’ EP4 out now
In the latest Khiri Pulse pod­cast epis­ode, John Black wel­comes Sonya Duck, founder of Cam­bod­i­an food tour oper­at­or Urb­an For­age. They dis­cuss their favour­ite Cam­bod­i­an street snacks, sus­tain­able cuisines of the future, and the phil­an­throp­ic oppor­tun­it­ies that can be found through food. 

Sri Lanka focus for third Khiri Pulse pod­cast
In the third epis­ode of Khiri Pulse, Khiri Travel Sri Lanka GM Mahiru Fernando and Kulu Safar­is’ Javana Fernando dis­cuss wild­life, parks, sus­tain­ab­il­ity, and conservation.

Gradu­ate train­ee loves her ASSET H&C‑member school
A gradu­ate of the Bay­on Pastry School Cof­fee Shop, Ms Chetra Yorn is now work­ing for Par­is Baguette in Phnom Penh, Cam­bod­ia. Thanks to Bay­on, “I trans­formed from a shy and reserved girl to a strong and inde­pend­ent one”, she said. “I am hav­ing exper­i­ences that I nev­er had before.” #ILoveMy­School

The importance of good partnerships

To help you nav­ig­ate dire straits, take the tem­per­at­ure in an uncer­tain cli­mate, and keep your head when all about you are los­ing theirs, it’s wise to seek out part­ners who make you their pri­or­ity.

“GT” is a good part­ner. Veri­fy that with a “GT” Part­ner and then look at part­ner­ship oppor­tun­it­ies. There’s a pack­age for every­one — big or small; pub­lic or private; com­mer­cial or not-for-profit — because travel & tour­ism is everyone’s business. 

All “GT” Part­ners enjoy out­stand­ing value, includ­ing the oppor­tun­ity every week to con­trib­ute news to the “GT” news­let­ter and these monthly wraps.

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Friends indeed

“Friends indeed” are worthy travel & tour­ism industry fun­draisers and char­it­able causes that are asso­ci­ated with or sug­ges­ted by “GT” Part­ners and friends. Please help them if you can. Share the page with your net­works. And link to it from your website.

Stay healthy, smile, have a good week … And when you travel, remember:

It’s not ‘no’. It’s ‘know’.

Gotta go? Then go!
If you’ve time, go slow
If you don’t, try low
Do what you know is good
And know there is more to know

Fea­tured image (top of post): Share “Good news in travel & tour­ism May 2022” as you would a pizza. Image by Ivan Torres (CC0) via Unsplash.

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Donations, diversity, disclosure

To help your cor­res­pond­ent keep his energy-effi­cient lights on, please con­sider a private one-off gift or ongo­ing dona­tion. THANK YOU to those who have! 

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Note: It is “GT’s” policy to fully dis­close Part­ner or sponsored con­tent. If an item asso­ci­ated with a “GT” Part­ner is not dis­closed as such, then it either met the “GT” Insight guidelines (includ­ing “not a sales pitch”) or it was a simple oversight.