“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.

Domestic disasters & destination ‘dupes’: Climate change impels travel closer to home

July 2, 2024
One Comment

Domestic disasters & destination ‘dupes’: Climate change impels travel closer to home. Worried about climate change and associated risks to property, American vacationers are growing reluctant to travel far from home. Image by WikiImages (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/hurricane-devastation-charley-63005/ "GT" added the text.

Wor­ried about cli­mate change and asso­ci­ated risks to prop­erty, Amer­ic­an vaca­tion­ers are grow­ing reluct­ant to travel far from home. It’s the third “GT” Insight by Herb Hiller. [You too can write a “Good Tour­ism” Insight.] Cli­mate change at home and away In this epoch of cli­mate change, a fam­ily on Grand Bahama depos­its a Nor­we­gi­an Cruise Line […]

Read More Domestic disasters & destination ‘dupes’: Climate change impels travel closer to home
Posted in Insights & Best Practices, "Good Tourism" in the Americas, "GT" Destinations & Places, “Good Tourism” in the United States of America
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Conservation, climate, culture challenge food tourism in Botswana

June 25, 2024

Botswana's Okavango Delta is important to the country's food security as well as its food tourism potential. Aerial shot of the Okavango River, Shakawe, Botswana by Wynand Uys (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/aerial-photography-of-body-of-water-4ZCA3xukIso

Delly Cha­ti­bura sees a huge oppor­tun­ity for Bot­swana to lever­age its nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al resources for food secur­ity and good food tour­ism. But con­ser­va­tion, cli­mate, and cul­tur­al chal­lenges impede food tour­ism in Bot­swana. Food cul­tures are often integ­ral to tour­ism, with Bangkok’s street food, New York’s diners, tea in China, and French baguettes being four arbit­rary examples. But how many of the world’s tour­ists are famil­i­ar with Botswana’s rich food cul­ture, and the issues attend­ing it? 

Read More Conservation, climate, culture challenge food tourism in Botswana
Posted in "GT" Destinations & Places, 'Tourism's Horizon: Travel for the Millions' book, "Good Tourism" in Africa, "Good Tourism" in Botswana, Insights & Best Practices
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Regenerative tourism’s myths and realities

June 11, 2024
4 Comments

Regenerative tourism: Myth and reality. 'Regenerative Reliquary' stem cell image by Monika Robak (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/regenerative-reliquary-amy-karle-2744729/

Regen­er­at­ive tour­ism is great for des­tin­a­tions that choose to focus on it, and for the few who can afford it. But what about the rest of us? It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight by Jim Butcher. ‘Regen­er­at­ive’ is the latest eth­ic­al pre­fix to accom­pany ‘tour­ism’, fol­low­ing a well-worn path from ‘eco’, ‘sus­tain­able’, ‘green’, ‘com­munity’, ‘respons­ible’ et cetera. […]

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Posted in Insights & Best Practices
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What does it mean to be critical of tourism?

June 4, 2024

What does it mean to be critical of tourism? Airport image by Jan Vašek (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/airport-woman-flight-boarding-2373727/ Pointing fingers by Gordon Johnson (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/vectors/pointing-fingers-arms-frame-border-6028818/

Some “GT” read­ers are crit­ic­al of tour­ism, par­tic­u­larly ‘mass tour­ism’. Some in the uni­ver­sit­ies see them­selves as part of a ‘Crit­ic­al Tour­ism Stud­ies’ move­ment. But what does it mean to be ‘crit­ic­al’ in rela­tion to mod­ern tour­ism?  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bites ques­tion. Your cor­res­pond­ent put the ques­tion to the travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers in the “GT” […]

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Posted in Insights & Best Practices, Insight Bites

Totally awesome: Destinations’ urgent need to rediscover the ‘totality of awe’

May 22, 2024

Millions flock to the best locations to be awed by the total eclipse of the sun. Image by Sima Ghaffarzadeh (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/solar-eclipse-child-sun-kid-2689087/ GT cropped it and added "Awe ..."

A col­lect­ive sense of small­ness, con­nec­ted­ness, and awe eli­cited by the April 8 sol­ar eclipse reminded K Michael Hay­wood of the poten­tial that des­tin­a­tions have to inspire awe; from the authen­t­ic every­day that host com­munit­ies may take for gran­ted, to the loc­al effects of lar­ger forces that none of us can afford to ignore. It’s […]

Read More Totally awesome: Destinations’ urgent need to rediscover the ‘totality of awe’
Posted in Insights & Best Practices
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Prof Valeria Minghetti on peer review, overtourism, regenerative tourism, and how to succeed

May 14, 2024

Professor Valeria Minghetti: "[B]e curious. Never stop asking yourself questions. Curiosity and the desire to find solutions is what makes a difference ..."

“Nev­er stop ask­ing your­self ques­tions. Curi­os­ity and the desire to find solu­tions is what makes a dif­fer­ence,” accord­ing to Valer­ia Minghetti. Such an atti­tude will take young­sters a long way in travel & tour­ism, she reck­ons. And it must be redoubled at the very highest levels of aca­demia and industry. Saverio F Ber­to­lu­cci inter­viewed Prof Minghetti […]

Read More Prof Valeria Minghetti on peer review, overtourism, regenerative tourism, and how to succeed
Posted in Insights & Best Practices, 'Tourism's Horizon: Travel for the Millions' book, Insight Interviews
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