What is good tourism? “Good Tourism” & “GT” Travel wrap July-August 2025

Wel­come to the July-August 2025 wrap of “Good Tour­ism” & “GT” Travel news, insights, and exper­i­ences shared by friends and Part­ners of The “Good Tour­ism” Blog. [You too can share.]

What is good tourism?

The “Good Tour­ism” Blog nev­er defines ‘good tour­ism’. Your cor­res­pond­ent would nev­er be so bold. The fact is that what’s good for one stake­hold­er may not be good for another. 

Travel & tour­ism is a com­plex industry, so it is a good idea to open one’s mind to per­spect­ives one may nev­er oth­er­wise encounter. 

This is the “Good Tour­ism” mis­sion. It’s “GT”. And go!

(Click/touch an item on the shar­ing menu to go straight to it. And don’t for­get to share.)

“Good Tourism” Insights: Informed perspectives on tourism

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:

Detty December: The rise of diaspora tourism in Nigeria

Decem­ber is peak month for tour­ism in Niger­ia thanks to the arrival of hun­dreds of thou­sands of expat­ri­ate Nigeri­ans and tour­ists with Nigeri­an her­it­age. Dia­spora tour­ism is a boon to Nigeria’s eco­nomy and a life­line to many of its ter­tiary indus­tries, includ­ing tour­ism. But can it be sus­tained and extended?

Thanks to “Good Tour­ism” Insight Part­ner Tourism’s Hori­zon: Travel for the Mil­lions for invit­ing Dr Shola Osinaike to write this “Good Tour­ism” Insight. (You too can write one.)

• Unpar­alleled celebration
• Home­com­ing: The growth of Detty Decem­ber in Nigeria
• Detty December’s eco­nom­ic impact
• Detty Decem­ber on social media
• A bright future for dia­spora tour­ism in Niger­ia, if …
• A cel­eb­ra­tion of identity
• What do you think? 
• About the author
• Fea­tured image (top of post)

Back to menu ^

Beyond sustainability: Regenerative hospitality helps restore Sri Lankan culture

Can cul­ture bundled into tour­ism products retain its ‘authen­t­ic’ cre­den­tials and deliv­er her­it­age value to host com­munit­ies and visitors? 

UK-based tour­ism edu­cat­or Ashi­ka Kalu­badan­age reck­ons so as she recon­nects with her own ances­tral her­it­age in Sri Lanka.

Thanks to “Good Tour­ism” Insight Part­ner Tourism’s Hori­zon: Travel for the Mil­lions for invit­ing Dr Ashi­ka Kalu­badan­age to write this “Good Tour­ism” Insight. (You can too.)

• The dev­il dance unveiled
• Cook­ing with communities
• Cul­tur­al per­form­ances keep tra­di­tions alive
• My cul­ture is alive again thanks to regen­er­at­ive hospitality
• What do you think? 
• About the author

Back to menu ^

Thimlich Ohinga: UNESCO World Heritage management is failing a local community

Even as Thim­lich Ohinga’s dry stone walls crumble, the loc­al com­munity con­tin­ues to be excluded from the man­age­ment and care of the Kenyan UNESCO World Her­it­age site. 

This accord­ing to Doreen Nyam­weya who shares her second “Good Tour­ism” Insight. (You too can share your per­spect­ive.)

• Thim­lich Ohinga: Bit­ter irony
• What is Thim­lich Ohinga?
• Exclu­sion of loc­als threatens the cul­tur­al her­it­age of Thim­lich Ohinga
• Exclu­sion­ary man­age­ment is not neces­sar­ily a Kenya problem
• Crit­ic­al vul­ner­ab­il­it­ies are emer­ging at Thim­lich Ohinga
• We must avoid tears of division
• What now for Thim­lich Ohinga?
• What do you think? 
• About the author

Back to menu ^

What does good tourism mean to you?

Have you ever wanted 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’.

The freedom to share

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

• From estab­lished lead­ers in aca­demia and industry to young people with the gump­tion to express themselves; 
• From elite glob­al organ­isa­tions to the most mod­est micro busi­nesses (like “GT”);
• From the world’s ‘WEIRD’ (west­ern, edu­cated, indus­tri­al­ised, rich, and demo­crat­ic) places 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.

No, “GT” doesn’t judge. “GT” publishes.

Join the “GT” net­work. Con­tact “GT” »

Back to menu ^

“GT” Insight Bites

A “GT” Insight Bites post is a com­pil­a­tion of short responses to an identic­al set of pro­pos­i­tions and/or ques­tions, and/or a col­lec­tion of short opin­ion pieces that travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers are wel­come to sub­mit at any time (BiteX). Here are the most recent Bites:

Tourism, war, and peace

Some are call­ing on tour­ism lead­ers to do more to pro­mote peace. Giv­en that tour­ism is often among the first cas­u­al­ties of war, in what tan­gible and meas­ur­able ways can its lead­ers foster peace and understanding?

Have a thought to share? Respond in the com­ments at any time. Or write a Bite.

Thanks to the fol­low­ing respond­ents for tak­ing the time to share their thoughts. Their responses appear in the order received. [Click/touch a Bites menu item to go straight to it.]

• Tour­ism is NOT a vital source of peace
  • Richard But­ler, Emer­it­us Pro­fess­or, Scotland
• ‘Demo­crat­ic insti­tu­tions are the place for that’
  • Jim Butcher, Read­er, England
• ‘If you want peace, vote to replace bad lead­ers with good’
  • Geof­frey Lip­man, Cre­at­ive Dis­rup­tion Archi­tect, Malta
• ‘Respons­ible travel can be a power­ful force for under­stand­ing and harmony’
  • Chris Kit­tish­in­nak­uppe, Head of Mar­ket­ing & Sales, Thailand
• What do you think? 

Back to menu ^

Undertourism: Who’s suffering, and why?

Under­tour­ism: Who’s suf­fer­ing, and why?

Have a thought to share? Respond in the com­ments at any time. Or write a Bite.

Many thanks to Saverio Francesco Ber­to­lu­cci, Jim Butcher, Dorji Dhradhul, K Michael Hay­wood, and Chris Kit­tish­in­nak­uppe for shar­ing their thoughts on ‘under­tour­ism’; the flip side of ‘over­tour­ism’. Their responses appear in the order received. 

[Click/touch a menu item to go straight to it.]

• ‘Under­tour­ism is both a chal­lenge and an opportunity’
  • Chris Kit­tish­in­nak­uppe, mar­ket­ing & sales, Thailand
• Prob­lems with under­tour­ism are less often con­sidered mat­ters of ‘social justice’
  • Jim Butcher, aca­dem­ic, England
• ‘Severe con­sequences’ at the lower end of Bhutan’s value chain
  • Dorji Dhradhul, author, Bhutan
• ‘There is no such thing as over­tour­ism or undertourism’
  • Saverio Francesco Ber­to­lu­cci, busi­ness devel­op­ment, Spain
• Des­tin­a­tions need ‘some semb­lance of capa­city man­age­ment and control’
  • K Michael Hay­wood, pub­lish­er, Canada
• What do you think? 

Back to menu ^

Share a “GT” Travel Experience or “GT” Travel Postcard

Are you a ‘tour­ism insider’ keen to share some of the exper­i­ences that got you inter­ested and keep you inter­ested in the travel & tour­ism industry?

Have you ever wanted to write a travel blog about an inspir­ing travel exper­i­ence … and have it published?

You are invited to share your travel pas­sion with dis­cern­ing trav­el­lers, and join a list of oth­er dis­tin­guished “GT” Friends who have done just that.

It could be a “GT” Travel Exper­i­ence (500 – 1,000 words) or a “GT” Travel Post­card (your favour­ite photo from a trip accom­pan­ied by an exten­ded cap­tion of up to 300 words).

It doesn’t mat­ter if you think you can’t write. I will per­son­ally copy-edit your draft and ensure that you are happy with it before I hit the ‘pub­lish’ button.

It’s all part of the “GT” Travel Exper­i­ence.

Join the “GT” net­work. Con­tact “GT” »

Back to menu ^

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 good part­ners.

“GT” Partnership places are strictly limited!

“GT” is a good part­ner. There is a “GT” Part­ner­ship pack­age for any organ­isa­tion — 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 Part­ner mes­sages, and the oppor­tun­ity to con­trib­ute news to the “GT” news­let­ter and to these ‘What is good tour­ism?’ wraps.

Back to menu ^

Your comments

If there are com­ments on any “GT” post, you will find them below the main con­tent of that post. You need to be signed in first. 

The “GT” Blog requires regis­tra­tion and sign in to make com­ment, read com­ments, and reply to com­ments. Why? Because “GT” is a ‘safe space’ for diverse per­spect­ives and respect­ful, friendly debate. 

You will NOT be banned for your off-the-wall opin­ions or your weird sense of humour (with­in reas­on; even if the capri­cious algorithms of our big tech over­lords pun­ish the publisher). 

How­ever, you WILL be banned for enga­ging in argu­mentum ad hom­inem. If you dis­agree with some­thing, always tackle the argu­ment not the indi­vidu­al mak­ing it.

Join the “Good Tour­ism” community

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:

#KnowNotNo … 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

Back to menu ^

Featured image (top of post)

What is good tour­ism? Share the “Good Tour­ism” & “GT” Travel wrap July-August 2025 as you would a green salad. Image by Nad­ine Primeau (CC0) via Unsplash. “GT” added the word “Share …”

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! 

You are a tour­ism stake­hold­er — yes, YOU! — so what’s your view? Do you dis­agree with any­thing you have read on “GT”? Join the con­ver­sa­tion. Com­ment below or share your “Good Tour­ism” Insights. Diversity of thought is wel­come on The “Good Tour­ism” Blog. And your ori­gin­al con­tent sup­ports an inde­pend­ent publisher.

Part­ner with “GT”.

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 “avoid sales pitches”) or it was a simple oversight.

Top ^