Dr Jim Butcher

Dr Jim Butcher

Jim Butcher

Jim Butcher is a lec­turer and writer who has writ­ten a num­ber of books on the soci­ology and polit­ics of tour­ism. Dr Butcher blogs at Polit­ics of Tour­ism, tweets at @jimbutcher2, and is the founder of Tour­is­m’s Hori­zon: Travel for the Mil­lions.

Language skills in tourism: Why the Anglosphere needs to appreciate them

and April 5, 2023

Language skills in tourism Why the Anglosphere needs to value them higher Image by Towfiqu barbhuiya (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/@towfiqu999999

The import­ance of lan­guages is uni­ver­sal.  How­ever, in nat­ive Eng­l­ish-speak­­ing coun­tries such as the United King­dom, lan­guage edu­ca­tion has been neg­lected.  This has implic­a­tions for the inbound travel, tour­ism, and hos­pit­al­ity indus­tries and their work­ers, accord­ing to Kar­en Thomas and Jim Butcher. Dr Thomas was the lead research­er for a study on the top­ic. Drs Thomas […]

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Posted in "GT" Destinations & Places, "Good Tourism" in Europe, "Good Tourism" in the United Kingdom, Insights & Best Practices
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War in Ukraine and the real ‘ethical tourism’

March 12, 2022

What does war in Ukraine mean (if anything) for the concept of ethical tourism?

The travel & tour­ism industry can do plenty to sup­port the people of Ukraine in their fight for free­dom, such as lever­age its com­mu­nic­a­tions and pay­ments chan­nels.  That would rep­res­ent a truly ‘eth­ic­al tour­ism’, accord­ing to Jim Butcher. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.] I’ve nev­er been a fan of […]

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Posted in Insights & Best Practices, "Good Tourism" in Europe, "Good Tourism" in Ukraine, "GT" Destinations & Places, "GT" news & events, "GT" news from Europe
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In praise of holiday Fordism & why it’s misanthropic to malign mass tourism

August 24, 2021
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Dr Butcher defends the much-maligned mass tourist. Image by Kindel Media (CC0) via Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/sea-flight-sunny-beach-8185803/

Nearly every­one wants to escape their every­day and take a hol­i­day, includ­ing work­ing people with small budgets and lim­ited time. Does that mean they, and those who cater to them, are ter­rible people?  Jim Butcher does­n’t think so. In his third “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Dr Butcher paints mass tour­ism in a pro­gress­ive light and defends […]

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Tourism’s democratic deficit

February 25, 2021

There's more than one way. By geralt (CC0) via Pixabay.

Travel & tour­is­m’s host com­munit­ies need altern­at­ive vis­ions for devel­op­ment and the power to choose between them, accord­ing to lec­turer and writer Jim Butcher. It’s his second “Good Tour­ism” Insight. Eth­ic­al tour­ism is strongly asso­ci­ated with ‘com­munity empower­ment’ and ‘loc­al par­ti­cip­a­tion’. But how does this relate to the import­ant debates raging about nation­al demo­cracy: populism, […]

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Why tourism degrowth just won’t do after COVID-19

July 14, 2020
3 Comments

"The Only Sustainable Growth is Degrowth", according to this stencil graffito. Paul Sableman (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr. "GT" ran a filter. https://www.flickr.com/photos/pasa/14486751845

Among tour­ism aca­dem­ics and thinkers today — the out­spoken ones at least — Jim Butcher is one of the few who would chal­lenge the notion that post-pan­­dem­ic tour­ism must — for the sake of the plan­et — be much dimin­ished from what it was. He does just that in this “Good Tour­ism” Insight.  In light of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, much has been said […]

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