“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.

‘Jouissance’: The pleasure & pain of ‘ethical donor tourism’ in Africa

and January 18, 2022
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Zebra stripes at Dikhololo Game Reserve, Brits, South Africa. Photo by David Clarke (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/sN6d60TySV0

Some of the very wealthy among us love to live large in Africa’s mag­ni­fi­cent land­scape, to observe (and hunt) its icon­ic wild­life. While they are there it is good that they give gen­er­ously to eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment, phil­an­throp­ic, and con­ser­va­tion pro­jects, no? Are we miss­ing some­thing? Aca­dem­ics Stasja Koot and Robert Fletch­er think so.  It’s a “Good […]

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Seven ‘deeper leverage points’ for travel & tourism’s effective climate action

and January 11, 2022
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"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." _ Archimedes

Aca­dem­ics Johanna Loehr and Susanne Beck­en offer an exec­ut­ive sum­mary of “Lever­age points to address cli­mate change risk in des­tin­a­tions”; their paper recently pub­lished by Tour­ism Geo­graph­ies. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.] The latest sci­ence is clear. Cli­mate action needs to step up drastic­ally.  This also affects tour­ism. As […]

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Why travel & tourism is wrong to embrace net zero as its climate change response

January 4, 2022
9 Comments

Under net zero orthodoxy, will air travel become an elitist activity only ever undertaken by the very wealthy? Image by VOO QQQ (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/RSYBi_1fhfMUnder net zero orthodoxy, will air travel become an elitist activity only ever undertaken by the very wealthy? Image by VOO QQQ (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/RSYBi_1fhfM

Sens­ible and rig­or­ous envir­on­ment­al­ism in travel & tour­ism is desir­able, accord­ing to Ken Scott. How­ever, the pre­ma­ture pur­suit of net zero when the most prom­ising tech­no­lo­gies aren’t ready is an unne­ces­sary act of self harm for the industry, he argues.  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.] I con­sider myself a […]

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Stronger together: Tourism training partnerships help prevent child exploitation

, , and December 14, 2021

Stronger together preventing sectt sexual exploitation of travel and tourism through training

The sexu­al exploit­a­tion of chil­dren by those who use the ser­vices of the travel & tour­ism industry is a dif­fi­cult sub­ject to acknow­ledge let alone dis­cuss. This is why ECPAT Inter­na­tion­al, The Code, and ASSET‑H&C have partnered to give train­ers and edu­cat­ors use­ful tools to help pre­pare stu­dents to look out for and report signs […]

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Winning from within: How can travel & tourism stem the brain drain?

December 7, 2021

Winning from within: How can travel & tourism stem the brain drain? Image by geralt (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/understanding-spark-lightning-hand-3914811/

Travel & tour­ism is every­one’s busi­ness. It’s all about people. How do we keep people allied and inspired in organ­isa­tions, des­tin­a­tions, and host com­munit­ies?  K Michael Hay­wood tackles this prob­lem in his third “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.] “Aston­ish, Smarter Tour­ism by Design” (my new e‑book yet to be pub­lished) opens […]

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55 ways tourism can be friendlier to the environment: An ‘Eco-Guide’

, and November 30, 2021

Picture collage of students at ASSET-H&C member institutions

“Good Tour­ism” Insight Part­ner ASSET‑H&C has pub­lished the free Eco-Guide for Hos­pit­al­ity Busi­nesses and Schools, which lays out 55 tips for redu­cing tour­is­m’s neg­at­ive effects on the envir­on­ment. Soph­ie Hart­man, Nguyễn Thị Thu Thảo, and Võ Thị Quế Chi describe the why, the how, and a few of the what in this “GT” Insight.  [Scroll […]

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