“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.

For the sake of the world’s poor, might the risk of overtourism be worth it?

April 20, 2021
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Passport, camera, money ... go. By bjwhite66212 (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/camera-passport-money-travel-6117369/

From a facil­it­at­or of poten­tially dam­aging masses to a mere tinker­er at the eco­nom­ic mar­gins of a place, travel & tour­ism can be any­thing a des­tin­a­tion chooses it to be.  In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Peter Smith sug­gests that mass tour­ism may offer more to the world’s poorest stake­hold­ers than many com­ment­at­ors acknow­ledge. [Thanks to Jim Butcher for […]

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Travel, stories, education: The keys to happiness?

April 15, 2021

Story time with Mama; a framework for happiness? Photo by Liana Mikah (CC0) via Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/Puhj02KOHrc

Sus­tain­able tour­ism expert and edu­cat­or Ivana Dam­njan­ović is pas­sion­ate about travel, stor­ies, and edu­ca­tion; so much so that she thinks that they could be the source of, frame­work for, and means to hap­pi­ness. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. Travel & tour­ism has long been con­sidered a magic box that brings cer­tain profit. No mat­ter how […]

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Living the good life: Can tourism help save a host community from itself?

April 13, 2021
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Barefoot Bar: Living the good life in the Cook Islands. Image supplied by Ani Thompson

Much has been made about how travel & tour­ism exploits host com­munit­ies. But can our industry pro­act­ively improve loc­als’ health and well-being? Ani Thompson thinks so. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, the hoteli­er shares how she has lever­aged the resources avail­able to her to help tackle the scourge of non­com­mu­nic­able dis­eases in her nat­ive Cook […]

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How New Zealand’s Tiaki Promise advances regenerative travel & tourism

April 8, 2021
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Dolphin tiaki promise inset within a view from Roy’s Peak, Wanaka, New Zealand. Photo by Jasper van der Meij (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/k7D1O46HPwA

Inde­pend­ent research­er Bron­wyn Hutchis­on takes a look at New Zeal­and’s des­tin­a­tion care pledge, the Tiaki Prom­ise, and its poten­tial for advan­cing regen­er­at­ive travel & tour­ism. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [Thanks to Regina Scheyvens for invit­ing Ms Hutchis­on to write a “GT” Insight.] The COVID-19 pan­dem­ic has wreaked hav­oc on domest­ic and inter­na­tion­al tour­ism worldwide. […]

Read More How New Zealand’s Tiaki Promise advances regenerative travel & tourism

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 […]

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

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 […]

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