“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.

A ‘year of hell’, pent-up wanderlust, and the supermarket of beautiful places

June 22, 2021
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Supermarket hell? By Melanie Lim (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/246b6c6IeC0

If sus­tain­ab­il­ity is ever going to be more than fantasy, tour­ists and the tour­ism industry need to treat inter­na­tion­al travel as a priv­ilege and value domest­ic des­tin­a­tions much more highly. This is accord­ing to vet­er­an hos­pit­al­ity, mar­ket­ing, and crisis man­age­ment con­sult­ant Bert van Wal­beek. How­ever, as evid­enced by this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, he’s not counting […]

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Can transformational tourism help solve the post-COVID mental health crisis?

June 17, 2021

Transformation in situ. Preparing to travel. Image by GLady (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/cocoon-butterfly-larva-larvae-209096/

Through­out his­tory our spe­cies has trans­formed where we’ve trav­elled, been trans­formed by travel, and trav­elled to trans­form. There is little doubt that many of us are hap­pi­est when we are on the move. Is tour­ism schol­ar Rohan Bhalla cor­rect in think­ing that our industry could be part of the solu­tion to the world’s men­tal health […]

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Towards a new paradigm for regenerative tourism and just futures

June 8, 2021
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Regeneration. Image by congerdesign (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/plant-sow-grow-growing-trays-4036131/

The COV­­ID-induced travel & tour­ism depres­sion has caused and exacer­bated suf­fer­ing. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, aca­dem­ic Tazim Jamal sum­mar­ises the oppor­tun­it­ies that she sees for ‘heal­ing’, ‘justice’, and ‘equity’ as our industry recov­ers. [Thanks to Joseph M Cheer for invit­ing Dr Jamal to write a “GT” Insight.] Tour­ism is a multi-bil­lion-dol­lar industry. It employs […]

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Thailand’s tourism elephants lose when pragmatism gives way to politics, ideology

June 1, 2021
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Fundraising livestreams are the best hope for unemployed elephants in Thailand. Pic supplied by John Roberts.

The best hope for Thail­and’s unem­ployed tour­ism ele­phants now are livestreams and the gen­er­os­ity of donors. As travel resumes, ele­phant expert John Roberts fears that loc­al polit­ics and act­iv­ist ideo­logy will con­tin­ue to be a bar­ri­er to optim­al out­comes.  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight.  It is always fool­ish to gaze into a crys­tal ball and […]

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On the fringes: When the City of Sedona’s tourism policy failed the urban outskirts

May 25, 2021

Loy Butte is to the northwest of Sedona, Arizona. (Oak Creek Canyon is to the north.) There are remarkable rocks and spectacular scenes all around Sedona. By Sunfellow (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/loy-butte-sedona-arizona-hiking-672889/

Ari­zon­a’s great out­doors is a draw for people escap­ing COVID lock­down. While the state’s cit­ies and tour­ist towns reap the eco­nom­ic rewards, some places only see the down­side as the masses pass through. How can tour­ism policy-makers account for the poten­tial neg­at­ive effects of inbound travel on those just out­side a des­tin­a­tion?  It’s a “Good […]

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Is ‘regenerative tourism’ just a rebranding of ‘sustainable tourism’?

May 20, 2021
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Kingia australis, regenerating naturally. Image by TerriAnneAllen (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/kingia-australis-native-flora-4772242/

For those still con­fused about the dif­fer­ence between sus­tain­able tour­ism and regen­er­at­ive tour­ism, PhD can­did­ate Lor­etta Bel­lato offers answers to ques­tions that she is fre­quently asked. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [Thanks to Joseph M Cheer for invit­ing Ms Bel­lato to write a “GT” Insight.] Emer­ging at the same time as sus­tain­ab­il­ity, regen­er­a­tion has expanded […]

Read More Is ‘regenerative tourism’ just a rebranding of ‘sustainable tourism’?