What is good tourism? “Good Tourism” & “GT” Travel March-May ’26

Wel­come to the March-May 2026 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.

The travel industry is com­plex, 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:

What local students know about Phuket that global leaders do not

Trans­ition­ing from an emer­ging hot­spot to an estab­lished tour­ism-led eco­nomy is complex. 

In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Ken Drew exam­ines the grow­ing pains of Phuket, Thai­l­and where loc­als, includ­ing his former tour­ism stu­dents, too often find them­selves in danger.

Has rap­id devel­op­ment out­paced basic infra­struc­ture? And has it com­prom­ised the island’s abil­ity to safely handle mon­soon­al rains?

Fol­low­ing late April’s Glob­al Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Coun­cil con­fer­ence on the island — planned amid reports of deadly land­slides, tox­ic fires, and poor air qual­ity — a ques­tion arises:

Should the GSTC demand stricter adher­ence to its own cri­ter­ia before select­ing a host des­tin­a­tion? Or is it right to per­sist with the softer policy of engagement?

• Wel­come to the 2026 Glob­al Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Conference
• Wel­come to Phuket, Thailand 
  • Built for mass tour­ism, not for people
• Deadly defor­est­a­tion and the blame game
  • Phuket doubles down on defor­est­a­tion at Bang Khanun Hill
• When sus­tain­able tour­ism lead­ers meet, do they clear the air?
  • Inside the GSTC, sus­tain­ab­il­ity works as intended 
  • Out­side the GSTC, sus­tain­ab­il­ity is more complicated
• The gap between sus­tain­ab­il­ity stand­ards and reality 
  • Plan­ning reg­u­la­tions and devel­op­ment con­trol (Cri­terion A9)
  • Risk and crisis man­age­ment (Cri­terion A11)
  • Sol­id waste man­age­ment (Cri­terion D9)
• The ques­tion nobody is asking
• What do you think? 
• About the author

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Governance bottlenecks are slowing Kenya’s progress: How to break them

The ‘say-do gap’ in sus­tain­able travel & tour­ism is not only an issue in con­sumer decision-mak­ing and cap­it­al alloc­a­tion. It is also an insti­tu­tion­al, bur­eau­crat­ic, and polit­ic­al problem.

As Doreen Nyam­weya has dis­covered through her exper­i­ence in loc­al gov­ern­ment in Kenya, pro­gress towards sus­tain­ab­il­ity is pos­sible, but nev­er swift nor perfect.

It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.]

• Sus­tain­ab­il­ity is polit­ic­al before it is technical
• Imple­ment­a­tion con­tin­ues to lag ambition
• Sus­tain­ab­il­ity is a lan­guage problem
• Insti­tu­tion­al change depends on trust
• Com­munity voice is the best form of leverage
• Sus­tain­ab­il­ity is an iter­at­ive pro­cess, not a destination
• What do you think? 
• About the author

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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:

Changing places: Responsibility, nostalgia, and the right to complain | BiteX: War

Who has the ‘social licence’ to claim a place has changed for the worse? Does it mat­ter if that change is driv­en by tour­ist visas, employ­ment visas, or per­man­ent migration? 

Is ‘nos­tal­gia’ a val­id stake­hold­er in a destination’s future? And does travel & tour­ism have a respons­ib­il­ity to val­id­ate these feel­ings, or is change simply the price of ‘pro­gress’?

Thanks to the six respond­ents for their con­sidered thoughts. Their responses are lis­ted in the order I received them. For BiteX, a few of us pon­der war. 

• Who gets to define ‘over­tour­ism’?
  • Pham Phi Anh, NGO exec­ut­ive, Vietnam
• Any­one has a ‘social licence’ to claim a place has changed for the worse
  • Richard But­ler, aca­dem­ic, Scotland
• The social licence ques­tion is about who gets to decide
  • Ewan Cluck­ie, busi­ness exec­ut­ive, Thailand
• Bri­tain would do well to rebuild a ‘sense of con­nec­tion through a shared past’
  • Jim Butcher, aca­dem­ic, England
• Nos­tal­gia is val­id­a­tion of place
  • Saverio Francesco Ber­to­lu­cci, busi­ness exec­ut­ive, Spain
• The social licence belongs to the res­id­ent who stands to lose
  • Doreen Nyam­weya, tour­ism officer, Kenya
• “GT” Insight BiteX (‘X’ is up to you)
• War: What is it good for? How’s it affect­ing you?
• Tour­ism in the shad­ow of con­flict: Pro­tect­ing the ‘social licence’
  • Pham Phi Anh, NGO exec­ut­ive, Vietnam
• War brings change, chal­lenge, and opportunity
  • Saverio Francesco Ber­to­lu­cci, busi­ness exec­ut­ive, Spain
• What do you think? 

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Can tourism in ‘the Global South’ ever be truly sustainable? UCB students have a say

Can tour­ism in devel­op­ing coun­tries ever be truly ‘sus­tain­able’ when it deep­ens inequal­ity? Rethink­ing SDGs 8, 10 and 12.

Using one des­tin­a­tion in the Glob­al South, argue wheth­er tour­ism there genu­inely advances SDGs 8, 10 and 12, or wheth­er it repro­duces inequal­it­ies behind a ‘sus­tain­able tour­ism’ label.

Uni­ver­sity Col­lege Birm­ing­ham Seni­or Lec­turer Simon Faulkner posed that ques­tion as a chal­lenge to his stu­dents, lim­it­ing them to 300 words each accord­ing to the “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bite guidelines. For fur­ther con­text and guid­ance, Mr Faulkner added:

“Tour­ism is often pro­moted as a path­way to sus­tain­able devel­op­ment in the Glob­al South, par­tic­u­larly for poverty reduc­tion and job creation. 

“How­ever, evid­ence sug­gests that tour­ism can actu­ally deep­en inequal­it­ies, with bene­fits leak­ing to inter­na­tion­al cor­por­a­tions while loc­al com­munit­ies face rising costs, dis­place­ment, and pre­cari­ous employment. 

“Your task is to take a clear pos­i­tion on this debate using evid­ence from one spe­cif­ic destination.”

Three stu­dents rose to the chal­lenge. Their responses are presen­ted here in a spe­cial “GT” Insight Bites compilation. 

• Travel & tour­ism is cre­at­ing a ‘crit­ic­al para­dox’ in the Maa­sai Mara
  • Cal­li­ope Elwood, Stu­dent, Uni­ver­sity Col­lege Birm­ing­ham, England
• Sus­tain­able for whom? The real­ity behind Zanzibar’s travel & tour­ism boom
  • Prashanna Katuw­al, Stu­dent, Uni­ver­sity Col­lege Birm­ing­ham, England
• Travel & tour­ism ‘struggles to be truly sus­tain­able’ in Morocco
  • Regan Rushton, Stu­dent, Uni­ver­sity Col­lege Birm­ing­ham, England
• What do you think? 

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Do green, low-carbon travel & tourism supply chains unintentionally exclude women?

Do green, low-car­bon travel & tour­ism sup­ply chains unin­ten­tion­ally exclude women?

“[C]lean energy trans­itions are nev­er purely tech­nic­al. They redis­trib­ute costs and oppor­tun­it­ies, which can unin­ten­tion­ally widen exist­ing gender inequities.” 

This is what Kev­in Phun of the Centre for Respons­ible Tour­ism Singa­pore asks and argues in a “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bite that leads a com­pil­a­tion of responses.

• How green, low-car­bon sup­ply chains unin­ten­tion­ally exclude women
  • Kev­in Phun, Founder & Dir­ect­or, The Centre for Respons­ible Tour­ism Singapore
• It depends. Wrong question.
  • Wolfgang Georg Arlt, Exec­ut­ive Dir­ect­or, Mean­ing­ful Tour­ism Centre, Nepal
• Can travel & tour­ism ever be sus­tain­able if inequal­ity grows?
  • Pham Phi Anh, Deputy Head of Pro­ject Devel­op­ment — Fun­drais­ing Unit, Anh Duong Cen­ter, Vietnam
• Call­ing it ‘unin­ten­tion­al’ gives poli­cy­makers a free pass
  • Doreen Nyam­weya, Tour­ism Officer, Nyamira County, Kenya
• 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:

A sustainable stay: Thailand’s Anurak Lodge embraces ‘4Cs’ in regenerative quest

An impact report shows how an eco­lodge on the edge of Khao Sok Nation­al Park is embed­ding and meas­ur­ing con­ser­va­tion, com­munity, cul­ture, and com­merce in its operations.

Anurak Com­munity Lodge, a 19-key nature-based eco­lodge loc­ated on the edge of Khao Sok Nation­al Park in south­ern Thai­l­and, has pub­lished its 2025 Impact Report.

The report out­lines Anurak’s pro­gress towards regen­er­at­ive travel & tour­ism prin­ciples guided by the ‘4Cs’ of con­ser­va­tion, com­munity, cul­ture, and com­merce; a frame­work developed by sus­tain­able tour­ism advocacy body, The Long Run.

The impact state­ment demon­strates how the lodge is embed­ding sus­tain­ab­il­ity in all aspects of its operations.

A key mile­stone in 2025 was the com­ple­tion of a full year of con­sist­ent meas­ure­ment of elec­tri­city, water, and waste.

The eco­lodge also main­tained its Trav­elife Gold Cer­ti­fic­a­tion, reflect­ing adher­ence to inter­na­tion­ally recog­nised sus­tain­ab­il­ity standards.

• Restor­ing the rain­forest and redu­cing waste
• Invest­ing in the loc­al community
• Acknow­ledging chal­lenges and look­ing ahead
• About Anurak Com­munity Lodge

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Cardamom Tented Camp reports strong conservation gains

Nature-based tour­ism mod­el in Cam­bod­ia pro­tects over 18,000 hec­tares while advan­cing com­munity engage­ment and sus­tain­able operations.

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp has released its 2025 Impact Report, high­light­ing meas­ur­able pro­gress in rain­forest pro­tec­tion, wild­life mon­it­or­ing, and com­munity engage­ment through its travel & tour­ism-led con­ser­va­tion model.

Estab­lished through a part­ner­ship between camp oper­at­or YAANA Ven­tures, Minor Group, and Wild­life Alli­ance, the 12-tent, award-win­ning eco-retreat con­tin­ues to pro­tect an 18,073-hectare con­ces­sion with­in Botum Sakor Nation­al Park in south­w­est Cam­bod­ia.

• ‘2025 Impact Report’ released
• Wild­life monitoring
• Artist-in-res­id­ence plans
• About Car­damom Ten­ted Camp
  • Awards and accolades

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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” needs new Partners

Check out the list of cur­rent Part­ners, then look at the pri­cing avail­able in the Part­ner­ship info PDF. You do the math. 

Yes, yours truly, the pub­lish­er, would appre­ci­ate your help. But do con­tact me soon, because …

“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. 

“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, 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.

Featured image (top of post)

What is good tour­ism? Is it like par­tak­ing in a Moroc­can feast? Per­haps you’ll find the answer in this “Good Tour­ism” & “GT” Travel wrap for March-May 2026. Per­haps not. The fea­tured image was Gem­ini-gen­er­ated. “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.

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