“Good Tourism” Insights

Dancers, singers, and drummers from a local women’s cooperative welcome visitors to the Red Rocks Cultural Center in Nyakinama village, Rwanda. Pic by David Gillbanks.

Dan­cers, sing­ers, and drum­mers from a loc­al women’s cooper­at­ive wel­come vis­it­ors to the Red Rocks Cul­tur­al Cen­ter in Nyak­i­n­ama vil­lage, Rwanda. Pic by Dav­id Gillbanks.

“Good Tour­ism” Insights are ori­gin­al posts by aca­dem­ics, experts, and prac­ti­tion­ers who are keen to share their sus­tain­able tour­ism and respons­ible tour­ism insights, expert­ise, and exper­i­ences, in plain Eng­lish, for the bene­fit of all travel & tour­ism stakeholders.

Each “GT” Insight rep­res­ents the opin­ion of its author, NOT neces­sar­ily the opin­ion of The “Good Tour­ism” Blog, its Part­ners, or its pub­lish­er. The “Good Tour­ism” Blog neither pays nor is paid for any “GT” Insight. 

Any­one with an informed and sin­cerely-held opin­ion about travel & tour­ism is wel­come to sub­mit a “GT” Insight for pub­lic­a­tion. The “GT” Insight guidelines are very simple.

Is there a right to travel or be a tourist in a world of limits?

, and June 4, 2026

Is there a right to travel or be a tourist in a world of limits? Gemini_Generated_Image_ohbjq2ohbjq2ohbj

Is travel & tour­ism a human right or elite priv­ilege? As res­id­ents protest against over­tour­ism and des­tin­a­tions intro­duce vis­it­or caps, is it time to rethink our free­dom of movement?

Ralf Vogler, Nadja Sch­weiggart, and Adri­an Müller out­line how we might dis­tin­guish between neces­sary travel and dis­cre­tion­ary tour­ism con­sump­tion and pro­pose a ‘stair­case mod­el’ of ascend­ing justifications.

Read More Is there a right to travel or be a tourist in a world of limits?
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Do green, low-carbon travel & tourism supply chains unintentionally exclude women?

May 26, 2026

Do green, low-carbon travel & tourism supply chains unintentionally exclude women? A Gemini-generated image.

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.

Read More Do green, low-carbon travel & tourism supply chains unintentionally exclude women?
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Governance bottlenecks are slowing Kenya’s sustainability progress: How to break them

May 18, 2026

Governance bottlenecks are slowing Kenya’s sustainability progress: How to break them. A Google Gemini-generated image. "GT" added the words.

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.

Read More Governance bottlenecks are slowing Kenya’s sustainability progress: How to break them
Posted in "Good Tourism" in Kenya, "Good Tourism" in Africa, "GT" Destinations & Places, Insights & Best Practices
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Can tourism in ‘the Global South’ ever be truly sustainable? UCB students have a say

May 12, 2026

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

“Can tour­ism in devel­op­ing coun­tries ever be truly ‘sus­tain­able’ when it deep­ens inequality? 

Using one des­tin­a­tion in the Glob­al South, argue wheth­er tour­ism there genu­inely advances SDGs 8, 10 and 12

Uni­ver­sity Col­lege Birm­ing­ham Seni­or Lec­turer Simon Faulkner posed that as a chal­lenge to his stu­dents. Three rose to it.

Read More Can tourism in ‘the Global South’ ever be truly sustainable? UCB students have a say
Posted in Insight Bites, Insights & Best Practices, Sponsored posts
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What local tourism students know about Phuket that global sustainability leaders do not

April 30, 2026

What do local tourism students know about Phuket that global sustainability leaders do not? A Gemini-generated image. "GT" added the words.

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

Ken Drew exam­ines the grow­ing pains of Phuket, Thai­l­and where loc­als, includ­ing his former tour­ism stu­dents, too often find them­selves in danger.

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

Read More What local tourism students know about Phuket that global sustainability leaders do not
Posted in "Good Tourism" in Thailand, "Good Tourism" in Asia, "GT" Destinations & Places, Insights & Best Practices
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Changing places: Responsibility, nostalgia, and the right to complain | BiteX: War

March 23, 2026

Changing places: Nostalgia, responsibility, and the right to complain. A Gemini-generated image for a "Good Tourism" Bites compilation. "GT" added the word "bites".

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 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 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: war. 

Read More Changing places: Responsibility, nostalgia, and the right to complain | BiteX: War
Posted in Insight Bites, Insights & Best Practices
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