Good news in travel & tourism February-March 2023
This “Good news in travel & tourism” wraps up two months of “Good Tourism” & “GT” Travel news, insights, and experiences.
Share it as you would a selection of fine chocolates … Or would you!?
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- “Good Tourism” Insights
by K Michael Haywood x 2 | Frédéric Dimanche | Saverio Francesco Bertolucci | David Jarratt | Herb Hiller - “Good Tourism” Insight Bites
The meeting | Tourist vs traveller | previous - Your comments
A question of trust | An inherent snobbery | A new world of work - Good news from friends
Refugee to founder | CFT for LDCs | Help Rwanda | Women & youth | tidbits - Friends indeed
“Good Tourism” doesn’t judge. “GT” publishes.
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.
If you submit a draft that complies with the simple “GT” Insight guidelines, I will personally copy edit your work and ensure that you are happy with it before I click ‘Publish’.
It’s part of “GT’s” mission to offer a platform for truly diverse perspectives:
- From established opinion leaders in academia and industry, to young people with the gumption to express themselves;
- From elite global organisations, to the most modest of micro businesses (like “GT”);
- From the world’s ‘WEIRD’ (western, educated, industrialised, rich, and democratic) nations to the ‘LDCs’ (least developed countries) in the “Global South”;
- (From those who adore acronyms and categories, to those who despise them ;-))
- From the centre and from the margins.
Just as “Good Tourism” never defines ‘good tourism’, “GT” will never judge anyone who would, in good faith, share their insights, ideas, expertise, experience, and wisdom.
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“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 most recent:
What ‘good tourism’ needs: Listening, learning, leading
(Published March 28, 2023)
K Michael Haywood wonders what the subjective notion of ‘good tourism’ is, or could be, and how it might be achieved. It’s a “Good Tourism” Insight.
Douro on my mind: Measuring & marketing value during the ‘value crisis’
(Published February 7, 2023)
Destination marketers can exploit a general perceived lack of value and trust to build affinity with prospective visitors, according to K Michael Haywood.
In this “Good Tourism” Insight, Professor Haywood describes the opportunity for destination marketers and the attendant challenge for destination managers.
The great realignment: What caused tourism’s labour crisis & how do we fix it?
(Published February 14, 2023)
After laying off so many people during the COVID lockdowns, the travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors now face a labour crisis.
Frédéric Dimanche points to causes and posits solutions. It’s a “Good Tourism” Insight.
‘No man is an island’: Let’s talk tourism and transportation infrastructure
(Published February 28, 2023)
Travel & tourism and transportation infrastructure are inextricably linked. The former is almost wholly dependent on the latter.
As stakeholders in travel, tourism, leisure, and hospitality, do we take for granted how we move from place to place?
Saverio Francesco Bertolucci shares his thoughts in the first in a series of “Good Tourism” Insights initiated by Tourism’s Horizon, a “GT” Insight Partner.
‘Where seagulls don’t land anymore’: Are British seaside resorts trending again?
(Published March 7, 2023)
Many British seaside resorts are making a comeback after decades of sniffy criticism led by the media, and despite a persistent narrative of decay and decline.
David Jarratt shares this “Good Tourism” Insight; the second in a series initiated by Tourism’s Horizon, a “GT” Insight Partner.
Foraging for climate-conscious travel information: Where is our trusted guide?
(Published March 14, 2023)
Despite warnings of climate catastrophe, declarations of climate emergency, and the guilt and angst they stir up in many people, most of us still want to travel.
Herb Hiller sees the need for a trusted and authoritative source of climate-conscious travel & tourism advice. It’s a “Good Tourism” Insight.
“GT” Insight Bites: Diverse perspectives on important topics
A “GT” Insight Bites post is a collection of short written responses to an identical set of propositions and/or questions that The “Good Tourism” Blog puts to a diverse range of travel & tourism stakeholders. Here is the most recent:
The heads of finance, operations, and public relations walk into their boss’s office …
The heads of finance, operations, and public relations walk into their boss’s office …
It might be the setup for a joke — feel free to suggest a punchline — but it could pertain to a very serious matter.
What is the most important issue that they could talk about? And how might they come to an agreement?
Your correspondent put this hypothetical to a range of travel & tourism stakeholders — “GT” Insight authors, “GT” Partners, and their invitees — and invited emailed written responses of no more than 300 words.
I also put it to Chat GPT, adding that it was in the context of the tourism industry.
Click/touch a name to go to their answer:
- K Michael Haywood — The post-retreat meeting
- Shamiso Nyajeka — The missing chair
- ChatGPT — ‘There’s no vacation from a crisis in the travel industry’
- What do you think?
Tourist vs traveller: What’s the difference?
What is the difference between a tourist and a traveller?
How do the behaviours and attitudes of tourists differ from those of travellers when interacting with people and places?
Your correspondent put these questions to “GT’s” diverse network of travel & tourism stakeholders — “GT” Insight authors, “GT” Partners, and their invitees — and invited emailed written responses of no more than 300 words.
Click/touch a name to go to their answer:
- Saverio F Bertolucci — Different modes and motivations for travel
- Zohreh Khosravi — Tourist vs traveller: Be responsible, regardless
- S Fatemeh Mostafavi Shirazi — The differences are narrowing
- Jim Butcher — For some, ‘moral and cultural status’ matters
- K Michael Haywood — Tourist vs traveller: Is it relevant?
- Peter Richards — Leave that baggage at home
- Geoffrey Lipman — Tourist vs traveller? ‘The planet doesn’t care’
- Dorji Dhradhul — In Bhutan: A ‘visitor’ when planning, a ‘guest’ upon arrival
- Steve Noakes — Will AI influence behaviours, attitudes?
- David Jarratt — ‘The designation is temporary, fluid, and, ultimately, flawed’
- Sudipta K Sarkar — Tours can be ‘creatively recreated’ to be more like travel
- Ivana Damnjanović — Better to focus on adjectives, not nouns
- Edwin Magio — Distinctions are ‘used to make people feel inferior/superior’
- Ha Phan — What matters is a happy experience for all concerned
- Susan Eardly — ‘It doesn’t matter as long as you’re seeing the world’
- Elisa Spampinato — ‘The precious baggage of meaning’
- ChatGPT — Travellers ‘tend to have a more positive impact’ than tourists
- What do you think?
Previous “GT” Insight Bites
- Yes, Tourism Minister
- What are tourism’s biggest challenges & threats over the next five years?
- ‘Tourism is built on the backbone of white supremacy’. What do you think?
- Really, what’s the difference? ‘Sustainable tourism’ vs ‘regenerative tourism’
- Want a career in tourism? Important things you should know
- Diverse perspectives on travel & tourism and a fairer world
- Diverse perspectives on economic degrowth and tourism
- Diverse perspectives on visitor dispersion
Your comments
A question of trust
“As usual, Professor Haywood makes excellent points, particularly about the pre and post-trip experience and the need for community involvement,” writes Richard Shepard in a long comment on K Michael Haywood’s “Douro on my mind: Measuring & marketing value during the ‘value crisis’”.
“The latter is harder to achieve than the former. Much harder.”
He continues:
“An additional problem is the other end of the equation. The potential customer needs to be a little more proactive in demanding information […]
“But, underlying the outreach issue from the customer is the question of trust. We have come not to trust anything that is written by the destination or the travel organisation that produces the content. Overcoming the lack of trust is difficult […] It’s that trust barrier that can only be breached over time by a good, memorable experience and by providing information to the customer that is clear and truthful and useful.”
An inherent snobbery
“Great article that outlines the challenges and prospects of UK coastal tourist resorts,” writes Philip Stone on David Jarratt’s “‘Where seagulls don’t land anymore’: Are British seaside resorts trending again?”
“However, as someone who lived in Blackpool for 15 years, and the wider Fylde coast for over 20 years, there is inherent snobbery among the local populace too. The idea of elitism, distinction, or class, is not only a media-driven north/south issue, but one that arrives from locals as well.
“Local distinctions on the Fylde coast, for example, between Fleetwood, Blackpool, St Annes, and Lytham are well rehearsed and entrenched by locals and local views. This transpires into regional perspectives and, ultimately, into national narratives, which then feed into destination stories of decline and decay. Some of these narratives are indeed lazy, others less so — and very much real …”
Philip also commented on Jim Butcher’s “GT” Insight from August 2021, “In praise of holiday Fordism & why it’s misanthropic to malign mass tourism”:
“Interesting article, especially for those who espouse the middle class concept of so-called ‘degrowth’ as way of containing mass tourism (and the tourist).”
A new world of work
Sarah on Frédéric Dimanche’s “The great realignment: What caused tourism’s labour crisis & how do we fix it?”:
“This article is spot on. The educational responsibility of tourist accommodation owners has long been overlooked and the opportunity underestimated. Training, motivation and stepping into a world of more flexible work hours and job sharing is not only necessary but inevitable.”
Good news from friends
Good news in travel & tourism from the wonderful organisations that make “GT” possible. Here is some of what happened recently in the “Good Tourism” network:
Greg Bakunzi: From Rwandan refugee to founding force
(Published March 27, 2023)
Greg Bakunzi grew up in a refugee camp in Uganda, having fled the extreme violence of the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s. Raised under “extremely challenging” conditions, the young Greg had little access to formal education.
Despite these origins, Greg Bakunzi is a renowned pioneer, trailblazer, and innovator in community-based tourism in central and eastern Africa.
World’s 46 LDCs to have Strong Climate Friendly Travel Chapters by September: Lipman
(Published March 7, 2023)
SUNx Malta will set up Strong Climate Friendly Travel Chapters in all 46 least developed countries (LDCs), plus select small island states.
Chapters will work locally to advance SUNx’ ambitious and actionable Climate Friendly Travel (CFT) agenda, which is focused on a Paris 1.5°C target.
SUNx co-founder and president Geoffrey Lipman announced this at the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) in Doha, Qatar, during a private sector forum on sustainable tourism.
Beyond ‘voluntourism’: Can you help Rwanda with sustainable tourism and community development?
(Published February 23, 2023)
As part of our program to promote sustainable tourism and community development around Volcanoes National Park, Red Rocks Initiative for Sustainable Development is advocating ecotourism and cultural tourism.
We believe ecotourism and cultural tourism activities can generate considerable benefits for our communities, as well as provide invaluable intercultural and knowledge exchange beyond traditional ‘voluntourism’.
Women’s and youth empowerment in one of the world’s ‘best tourism villages’
(Published March 16, 2023)
Red Rocks Initiatives for Sustainable Development runs conservation- and community-based tourism projects in and around the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. Volcanoes National Park is most famous for being one of the last habitats for mountain gorillas. Our initiatives include advancing the important cause of women’s and youth empowerment within our communities.
Partner news tidbits
News tidbits from “GT” Partners that appeared in recent edition of the “GT” newsletter.
Tourism’s Horizon: Travel for the Millions is a new “GT” Insight Partner. Tourism’s Horizon is a diverse group of people from academia and industry who “share a love of holidays and a desire to optimistically explore the economic and cultural advantages of mass tourism”. Tourism’s Horizon is founded by “GT” Insight author Jim Butcher.
The Association of Southeast Asian Social Enterprises for Training in Hospitality & Catering (ASSET‑H&C) has been running a social media campaign that highlights its members’ best products. Here are a few examples of ‘ASSET‑H&C Specialties’ as showcased on LinkedIn: Sala Bai’s vegan menu; Bayon Pastry & Coffee Shop’s brunch set; and La Boulangerie’s pastry set.
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 to contribute news to the “GT” newsletter and these wraps.
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 time … 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
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