2019 GSTC Asia-Pacific Sustainable Tourism Conference

The “Good Tour­ism” Blog was an offi­cial media part­ner at the 2019 Glob­al Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Coun­cil (GSTC) Asia-Pacific Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Con­fer­ence, Feb­ru­ary 28 & March 1, 2019 in Chi­ang Mai, Thailand.

Hey, tourism! Shouldn’t the needs of host communities ALWAYS come first?

March 7, 2019

Community-based tourism. Mae Hong Son Hilltribe Trek, a Planeterra project

The prin­ciples of com­munity-based tour­ism should be at the centre of ALL cat­egor­ies of tour­ism — niche or main­strean; urb­an or rur­al; cul­tur­al or nature-based; eco- or adven­ture; gast­ro­nom­ic or party; moun­tain or beach … you get the idea. There­fore, the needs of the host com­munity must always be con­sidered before the needs of vis­it­ors.  This is […]

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Now playing: The tragicomedy of overtourism starring those who should know better

March 6, 2019

Featured image: Why call it tourist season if we can't shoot them? By David Blaikie (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nikonvscanon/1463378771/ "GT" cropped and enhanced it.

The two faces of tour­ism are like sock and buskin, the foot­wear and masks of ancient Greek theatre that rep­res­ent com­edy and tragedy. Accord­ing to Glob­al Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Coun­cil (GSTC) CEO Randy Durb­and, the tragedy is over­tour­ism. And it’s real. It under­mines the joy of travel. It puts the buskin (boot) in. “Sense of place” […]

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Canvas, sticks, & mud: Is this the future of sustainable hotels & resorts?

March 5, 2019

Sustainable accommodation can take the form of luxury in canvas, sticks, and mud. This pic from Vinetree China.

It appears to be much more com­mon in the 21st cen­tury than it was in the 20th for high-end lux­ury hotels and resorts to be delivered in the form of tents and huts and mud houses. So long as the res­ult is more sus­tain­able accom­mod­a­tion options across all price points, sus­tain­ab­il­ity advoc­ates should rejoice. CB […]

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Most want to do the right thing for sustainable tourism. What is it?

March 3, 2019
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Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) CEO Randy Durband. Image: World Travel & Tourism Council (CC BY 2.0) via Wikimedia. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Randy_Durband,_CEO_Global_Sustainable_Tourism_Council_(26228765681).jpg

In two sen­tences the CEO of the Glob­al Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Coun­cil (GSTC) per­fectly summed up the com­mu­nic­a­tions oppor­tun­ity and chal­lenge facing sus­tain­ab­il­ity advoc­ates.  “Most people want to do the right thing. They just need to know what the right thing is.” Randy Durb­and said this dur­ing the theme-set­t­ing plen­ary ses­sion on the open­ing day of the […]

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Most elephant tourism activities are “not bad” in moderation: Experts

February 28, 2019

ACEWG appears to be tackling the valid concerns around elephant tourism head-on. Image: ACEWG

If there was a defin­it­ive point to come out of the ses­sion on ele­phant tour­ism at the 2019 Glob­al Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Coun­cil (GSTC) Asia-Pacific Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Con­fer­ence today in Chi­ang Mai, it would be that there are no defin­it­ive points. Exactly what con­sti­tutes appro­pri­ate, prag­mat­ic stand­ards for ele­phant wel­fare is yet to be determ­ined. Given […]

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Thailand Tourism Minister Weerasak props up GSTC conference opening

February 28, 2019

Thailand Tourism Minister Weerasak Kowsurat

HE Weer­a­sak Kowsur­at, Thail­and’s Min­is­ter of Tour­ism and Sport brought props to his open­ing speech for the 2019 Glob­al Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Coun­cil (GSTC) Asia-Pacific Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Con­fer­ence today in Chi­ang Mai. Des­pite micro­phone issues break­ing his flow, Mr Weer­a­sak used the props to make his point. He brought to the podi­um a bag made from fishing […]

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