“Good Tourism” Destinations & Places

“GT” Des­tin­a­tions & Places is all about con­fid­ent des­tin­a­tions, their spe­cial places, and the travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers there who are keen to show­case their good, their bet­ter, and their best.

“Good Tourism” Destination Partnership

For “GT” Des­tin­a­tion Part­ner­ship or sponsored con­tent about your spe­cial place, please click here for more inform­a­tion.

High value, low volume tourism: Is Bhutan’s old normal the world’s new normal?

April 6, 2021
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Bhutanese boys in traditional attire. Image (c) Dorji Dhradhul.

While some places adopt Bhutan’s Gross Nation­al Hap­pi­ness, the King­dom’s tour­ism offi­cials would be happy for the world to emu­late its ‘high value, low volume’ tour­ism policy too. Dorji Dhradhul, dir­ect­or-gen­er­­al of the Tour­ism Coun­cil of Bhutan, dis­cusses it in this “Good Tour­ism” Insight. Lead­er­ship is all about decid­ing what to do and then doing […]

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Planning tourism with purpose & love in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty

March 25, 2021
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Planning tourism with purpose & love in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty

Kristin Dun­ne’s “eyes were opened” to pos­sib­il­it­ies for travel & tour­ism that she could not ignore; pos­sib­il­it­ies based on pur­pose, place, and pas­sion­ate people. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, the des­tin­a­tion man­ager shares Tour­ism Bay of Plenty’s Te Hā Tāpoi | The Love of Tour­ism. Kia ora koutou from Aotearoa (New Zea­l­and). I am privileged […]

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What do the people want? Reimagining Pacific Island travel & tourism

, and March 16, 2021
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Reimagining pacific island tourism for host communities. Image (c) Pedram Pirnia

Thanks to its pan­­dem­ic-induced pause, travel & tour­ism has an oppor­tun­ity to rein­vent itself to bet­ter serve the aspir­a­tions of des­tin­a­tion com­munit­ies, accord­ing to Apis­a­lome Movono, Regina Scheyvens, and Soph­ie Auck­ram. The Mas­sey Uni­ver­sity research­ers draw on their ongo­ing study of five Pacific Island states to argue why the industry should be more attuned to […]

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Going local: Riverside Boutique Resort, Vang Vieng, Laos


A meal with a Vang Vieng view Riverside Boutique Resort, Vang Vieng, Laos

Sus­tain­able exper­i­ences reach into themed rooms at the River­side Boutique Resort in Vang Vieng, Laos while Gen­er­al Man­ager Math­ieu Thaer­on cuts con­sump­tion by rely­ing on com­mon sense and a clued-in staff. This is the second Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Laos Show­case by “Good Tour­ism” Des­tin­a­tion Part­ner WeAre­Lao. Today’s trav­el­lers demand sus­tain­ab­il­ity and authen­t­ic exper­i­ences. River­side deliv­ers both.  “The moment […]

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The PR challenge of opening Thailand safely to inbound travel & tourism

March 11, 2021
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Smiling eyes of a Bangkok taxi driver. Image by David Gillbanks

The COV­­ID-induced travel & tour­ism depres­sion has hit Thai­l­and hard. Ranked eighth in terms of inter­na­tion­al vis­it­or arrivals in 2019, Thai­l­and is the poorest of the des­tin­a­tions in the top 10. It is no won­der then that an industry-led pub­lic rela­tions cam­paign advoc­at­ing for a safe reopen­ing has emerged: #OpenThai­l­and­Safely. Head­ing up its mes­saging and […]

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Losing Lutruwita: Tourism troubles in Tasmania’s World Heritage wilderness

March 9, 2021

At the centre of a controversy is Halls Island on Lake Malbena in the middle of Walls of Jerusalem National Park, which is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Tasmania, Australia. Image by Rob Blakers (c) supplied by Tom Allen of the Wilderness Society Tasmania.At the centre of a controversy is Halls Island on Lake Malbena in the middle of Walls of Jerusalem National Park, which is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Tasmania, Australia. Image by Rob Blakers (c) supplied by Tom Allen of the Wilderness Society Tasmania.

The World Her­it­age wil­der­ness of Lut­ruwita (the palawa kani name for the island of Tas­mania) is under threat from col­lu­sion between state gov­ern­ment and private tour­ism interests, accord­ing to Tom Allen. The Wil­der­ness Soci­ety cam­paign man­ager reck­ons tour­ism does best when it com­ple­ments not com­prom­ises nat­ur­al val­ues. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. Upon sign­ing the […]

Read More Losing Lutruwita: Tourism troubles in Tasmania’s World Heritage wilderness