“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.

Pivots to make a difference: What ITA is doing to educate, inspire, satiate

July 10, 2020

As we navigate our way through a tunnel of trouble, how can we pivot and position ourselves with grace and with style to make a difference at the other end? Image (c) Kelley Louise.

A travel entre­pren­eur pas­sion­ate about storytelling and social good, Kel­ley Louise is the exec­ut­ive dir­ect­or and founder of Impact Travel Alli­ance, a com­munity for eco- and socially-con­­s­cious trav­el­lers. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Kel­ley tells us how the not-for-profit is mak­ing the best of chal­len­ging times to edu­cate trav­el­lers. Thanks to “GT” Insight Part­ner Second […]

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How to change an iconic travel & tourism experience … for good

June 24, 2020

From the roadside. Mount Sefton, Mt Cook National Park, New Zealand. Image by Bernard Spragg (CC0) via Picryl. https://picryl.com/media/mount-sefton-mt-cook-np-nz-68cc04

Mak­ing things bet­ter rarely neces­sit­ates tear­ing everything down and start­ing again. Josie Major of GOOD Travel (no rela­tion) describes how research and a little ima­gin­a­tion can turn a quint­es­sen­tial New Zea­l­and travel exper­i­ence — the road trip — into some­thing poten­tially much bet­ter for every­one. Thanks to “Good Tour­ism” Insight Part­ner Second Look World­wide for invit­ing Josie to con­trib­ute this “GT” […]

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Has ‘Future of Tourism’ failed host communities?

June 18, 2020
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Are host communities being ground down by the tourism industrial complex? Caption by "GT". Image by Andrius Petrucenia (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia. "GT" cropped it and applied a rouge filter. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mincer_(3075035).jpeg

The Future of Tour­ism Coali­tion is rather like a pub­lic rela­tions pyr­am­id scheme. The earli­er one signs up to it, the great­er the PR bene­fit. After every­one rushes in it will no longer be news­worthy. So if you’re going to sign up for it, do so after you read this hot take. Or wait until […]

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Supply lines: A former soldier’s take on tourism’s failure to win hearts & minds

May 26, 2020

PangSoong Lodge nature trail. Image supplied by author.

How does a spe­cial forces sol­dier become an out­spoken pro­ponent for and awar­ded prac­ti­tion­er of sin­cerely respons­ible tour­ism? In this “GT” Insight, Shane K Beary takes us back to his past before ask­ing us to con­sider his vis­ion for the future; a more equit­able com­munity-based travel & tour­ism industry. And it’s all about the sup­ply chain. […]

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Who dares wins: Who will hit the reset button?

May 22, 2020

Push to reset the world. By Jose Antonio Gallego Vázquez (CC0) via unsplash.

A “GT” Insight into the mind of the man who leads one of the world’s sig­ni­fic­ant travel & tour­ism industry organ­isa­tions: Dr Mario Hardy, chief of the Pacific Asia Travel Asso­ci­ation. What does he think about the crisis in which our industry finds itself? Over the past few months, we are reminded every day that […]

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By invitation only: Sustainable tourism revisited

May 19, 2020

Is tourism greed good or should tourism be by invitation only? Image supplied by author.

For truly sus­tain­able tour­ism to have a chance, indi­vidu­al des­tin­a­tions and host com­munit­ies must use the coronavir­us crisis to take back con­trol from glob­al fin­an­cial interests after dec­ades of failed talks at the highest levels. This is accord­ing to Dr Thomas Bauer in a fresh and reflect­ive “GT” Insight; his second. Indeed Dr Bauer reckons […]

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