What is good tourism? “Good Tourism” & “GT” Travel November-December 2025

Wel­come to the Novem­ber-Decem­ber 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:

Re-awakening: How can vibrant tales connect us all through folklore tourism?

In what ways might super­nat­ur­al folk­tales — and their anim­ist char­ac­ter­ist­ics — influ­ence res­id­ents’ and tour­ists’ per­cep­tions of and beha­viours with­in landscapes? 

Vivi­an Sakko invest­ig­ated this ques­tion on the Isle of Skye, Scot­land, for an award-win­ning master’s thes­is about folk­lore tourism.

Thanks to “Good Tour­ism” Insight Part­ner Tourism’s Hori­zon: Travel for the Mil­lions for invit­ing Ms Sakko to write this “GT” Insight. 

• Once upon a time…
• The tour­ist gaze and folklore
• The folk­lore-cent­ric gaze
• An anim­ist­ic worldview
• Folk­tales influ­en­cing envir­on­ment­al experiences
• Folk­tales influ­en­cing envir­on­ment­al behaviour
• Hap­pily ever after?
• What do you think? 
• About the author

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Behind Asian tourism’s success story: Risk and marketing

Glob­al tourism’s centre of grav­ity has shif­ted to Asia. But how do Asi­an des­tin­a­tions main­tain their spec­tac­u­lar growth amidst nat­ur­al dis­asters, pan­dem­ics, and geo­pol­it­ic­al instability? 

Dr Dav­id Beir­man and Dr Jeff Wilks reveal the strategies behind the region’s resi­li­ence in their upcom­ing book, Risk and Tour­ism Mar­ket­ing in Asia. And Bernie Rosen­bloom shares key find­ings from his chapter on Laos.

It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight.

• Hot­spots
• The role of transna­tion­al organisations
• Integ­rat­ing risk man­age­ment into marketing
• A case study: Laos
• Themes of resi­li­ence and recovery
• An optim­ist­ic outlook
• What do you think? 
• About the authors

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Gastronomic Gaborone: Can culinary innovation co-exist with authenticity?

In Gabor­one, Bot­swana, the food scene is trans­form­ing, blend­ing indi­gen­ous ingredi­ents with mod­ern gast­ro­nomy. As Gabor­one reima­gines tra­di­tion­al Set­swana fla­vours for the tour­ist pal­ate, Delly Cha­ti­bura and Brighton Hur­ombo ask: Can culin­ary innov­a­tion co-exist with the com­mun­al spir­it of the past?

Thanks to “Good Tour­ism” Insight Part­ner Tourism’s Hori­zon: Travel for the Mil­lions for invit­ing Dr Cha­ti­bura and Dr Hur­ombo to share this delect­able “GT” Insight. [You too can share.]

• A new taste of tradition
• Chef Mpho’s reflec­tion: The soul of Set­swana cuisine
• The Kgale Hill gour­met exper­i­ence: Where tra­di­tion climbs higher
• Authen­ti­city meets ambition
• Gabor­one city at a culin­ary crossroads
• Pre­serving the com­mun­al spir­it by storytelling
• Cook­ing as cul­tur­al education
• Con­clu­sion: Strik­ing the right balance
• What do you think? 
• About the authors

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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” »

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“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:

Do fun and politics mix? Can we ‘leave our cares behind’ when we go on holiday?

Do fun and polit­ics mix? Can we or should we ‘leave our cares behind’ on holiday?

It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bites question. 

Thanks to Jim Butcher, K Michael Hay­wood, Chris Kit­tish­in­nak­uppe, and Vil­helmi­ina Vain­ikka for tak­ing the time to con­sider the ques­tion. Their responses appear in the order received. (Thanks also to Dr Butcher for sug­gest­ing the question.)

And thanks to Willem Niemeijer and John Mor­ris Wil­li­ams for shar­ing unre­lated ideas in the form of “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bite_Xes.

• Pack the cares that matter
  • Chris Kit­tish­in­nak­uppe, hos­pit­al­ity sales & mar­ket­ing, Thailand
• ‘Polit­ics and fun can be an effer­ves­cent odd couple’
  • K Michael Hay­wood, aca­dem­ic, writer, & pub­lish­er, Canada
• ‘Tour­ist mobil­it­ies are inher­ently political’
  • Vil­helmi­ina Vain­ikka, geo­graph­er & research­er, Finland
• ‘Some­wheres’, ‘any­wheres’, and agend­a­less spaces
  • Jim Butcher, aca­dem­ic, writer, & pub­lish­er, England
• “GT” Insight BiteX (‘X’ is up to you)
• The best industry events deliv­er ideas, depth, and connection
  • Willem Niemeijer, group CEO, Thailand
• Hos­pit­al­ity staff these days …
  • John Mor­ris Wil­li­ams, hos­pit­al­ity group GM, Laos
• What do you think? 

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Tourism’s biggest threats, opportunities: five years to 2030

What is tourism’s biggest oppor­tun­ity and/or threat, either in your spe­cif­ic loc­a­tion or glob­ally, over the next five years (2026 – 2030)?

Thanks to the 17 good people who respon­ded to this “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bites ques­tion, includ­ing aca­dem­ics, edu­cat­ors, and activists.

Spe­cial thanks to those who work in busi­ness and cor­por­ate roles for tak­ing the time to share their thoughts. Like the industry it serves, The “Good Tour­ism” Blog is all about bridging worlds. 

Find below, for your con­sid­er­a­tion and enjoy­ment, place-based per­spect­ives from Eng­land to Iran, Bar­celona to Bend; mul­tiple glob­al issues from cost-cut­ting arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence to out-of-whack aca­demia; women’s empower­ment to ocean plastic. The responses appear in the order I received them.

• Pil­grim­age, cul­ture, relax­a­tion … and sur­gery … in Iran
  • Zohreh Khos­ravi, air­line con­tent man­ager, Iran
• Is Bend and Cent­ral Ore­gon caught in an ‘amen­ity trap’?
  • Ed Jack­iewicz, pro­fess­or, USA
• Bar­celona: No room? Or no rooms?
  • Saverio Francesco Ber­to­lu­cci, hos­pit­al­ity exec­ut­ive, Spain
• The inten­tion eco­nomy: A ‘luc­rat­ive yet troub­ling new marketplace’?
  • Greg Richards (pro­fess­or) & Wendy Mor­rill (asso­ci­ation exec­ut­ive), The Netherlands
• Skills short­ages threaten hos­pit­al­ity sector
  • John Mor­ris Wil­li­ams, hotel group GM, Laos
• ‘Why not put our faith in the next gen­er­a­tions to do a bet­ter job?’
  • Geof­frey Lip­man, “Cre­at­ive Dis­rup­tion Archi­tect”, Malta
• ‘An imbal­ance in tour­ism stud­ies’ = An oppor­tun­ity to collaborate
  • S Fate­meh Mosta­favi Shirazi, vis­it­ing schol­ar, Iran
• Can AI off­set tourism’s rising costs?
  • Dav­id Jar­ratt, seni­or lec­turer, UK
• Indonesia’s 620,000-tonne plastic threat
  • Anna Cler­ici, NGO co-founder, Indonesia
• How much is too much? Man­aging oppor­tun­ity and threat in rur­al tourism
  • Sham­iso Nyajeka, edu­cat­or, Cambodia
• England’s loc­al pubs: Use them or lose them
  • Ashi­ka Kalu­badan­age, course dir­ect­or, England
• High­er edu­ca­tion in the UK: Neg­lect, erosion, and aca­dem­ic snobbery
  • Sudip­ta K Sarkar, seni­or lec­turer, England
• Oppor­tun­it­ies for women’s empower­ment in rur­al Vietnam
  • Pham Phi Anh, NGO exec­ut­ive, Vietnam
• Oppor­tun­it­ies rise in Asia while threats linger globally
  • Dav­id Beir­man, aca­dem­ic, Australia
• ‘Com­munity shared value’ is an oppor­tun­ity and a threat
  • K Michael Hay­wood, pro­fess­or & pub­lish­er, Canada
• Exper­i­en­tial travel, sus­tain­ab­il­ity fatigue, over­tour­ism, and HR challenges
  • Jeff Wilks, psy­cho­lo­gist & pro­fess­or, Australia
• What do you think? 

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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” »

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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 recently in the “Good Tour­ism” network:

Can the tide of ocean plastic be stopped? The No-Trash Triangle Initiative thinks so

Per­haps 80% of the plastic in our oceans gets there via rivers. In Man­ado, Indone­sia the grass­roots No-Trash River pro­ject uses simple bar­ri­ers to catch plastic waste, pre­vent­ing it from reach­ing the Bunaken Mar­ine Park and spoil­ing its dive tour­ism hotspots.

Learn more from Anna Cler­ici, co-founder of the No-Trash Tri­angle Ini­ti­at­ive which is an EXO Found­a­tion Sus­tain­ab­il­ity Award winner.

• Uncom­fort­ably tangible
• They began where they could
• They step into the rivers
• They stand between care­less­ness and consequence
• About the author

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Cardamom Tented Camp among the world’s most responsible tourism projects: ICRT

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp in Cam­bod­ia is among the world’s most respons­ible tour­ism pro­jects accord­ing to the Inter­na­tion­al Centre for Respons­ible Tour­ism (ICRT).

The eco­lodge was acclaimed among 30 final­ists at ICRT’s 2025 Glob­al Respons­ible Tour­ism Awards in Lon­don, Novem­ber 3.

• Nature pos­it­ive
• Proud to protect
• About Car­damom Ten­ted Camp
  • Awards and accolades
• About the ICRT

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From reef rubble to recovery: How Livingseas Asia is leading tourism in Bali

Tour­ism built Bali’s repu­ta­tion but nearly broke its reefs. Now, the same industry is becom­ing a force for recovery.

Led by Liv­ing­seas Asia, a pion­eer­ing dive oper­at­or in Padang­bai, a grow­ing num­ber of vis­it­ors are return­ing not to take, but to give back. They are reviv­ing cor­al eco­sys­tems one dive at a time.

Liv­ing­seas Asia is an EXO Found­a­tion Sus­tain­ab­il­ity Award winner.

• Prob­lem: What’s hap­pen­ing to Bali’s reefs
• Solu­tion: Regen­er­a­tion through tourism
• Part­ner­ships: Turn­ing tour­ism into a force for regeneration
• Exper­i­ence: How trav­el­lers can get involved
• Impact: From frag­ments to flour­ish­ing reefs
• Vis­ion: Regen­er­a­tion is the future of travel
• About Liv­ing­seas Asia and the Liv­ing­seas Foundation

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The importance of good partnerships: “GT” needs you

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.

To continue, “GT” needs new Partners. And soon.

“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.

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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

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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 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

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Featured image (top of post)

What is good tour­ism? Per­haps you’ll find the answer in the “Good Tour­ism” & “GT” Travel wrap Novem­ber-Decem­ber 2025. Per­haps not. In any case, share good tour­ism as you would a Christ­mas pud­ding in Aus­tralia. Pic by Gemini.

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.

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