Good news in travel & tourism September 2021
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“GT” Insights: Informed perspectives on the industry
The “Good Tourism” Blog publishes informed opinions on the issues facing our industry, everyone’s business. “GT” Insights are diverse perspectives written by, for, and about the travel & tourism sector. Here are the latest from the month that was:
Tourism, capitalism, & the coronavirus crisis: What is to be (un)done?
Does the travel & tourism industrial crisis induced by government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic warrant a “full-spectrum intervention” to ‘democratise’ tourism for a ‘post-capitalist’ future? Raoul V Bianchi thinks so.
Data analytics, financial acumen are keys to a great career in tourism
Many who have worked in travel & tourism are looking elsewhere, or are already gainfully employed in other sectors. What must students and trainees be thinking during these COVID times? Tourism HR expert Andrew Chan offers his advice.
Mass tourism Corfu: With or without you?
How many tourism academics observe the industry as tourists? Melanie Kay Smith does. The past two COVID-affected summers in Greece have highlighted to her some of the problems caused by imposed limits on tourism.
Delicious, nutritious, precious: Nigeria’s ‘Slow Food’ tourism potential
Slow Food has found support in Nigeria. With its potential to contribute to a culture of sustainability, as well as to visitors’ experiences, might Slow Food be a welcome addition to tour itineraries there? Adenike Adebayo thinks so.
Atrocity, curiosity, tragedy, travel: Dark tourism in the Solomon Islands
Stephen Pratt and colleagues survey cruise tourists on a shore tour of WWII battlefield sites, museums, and memorials on Guadalcanal. Meanwhile, Solomon Islands residents weigh up the opportunities and responsibilities of dark tourism.
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Good news from friends
Good news in travel & tourism from the wonderful organisations that make “GT” possible. Here is some of what happened this month in the “Good Tourism” network, including human capital news (jobs, training, etc.):
SUNx signs Glasgow Tourism Declaration
“The Glasgow Tourism Declaration is a great start to improve sector climate response, and we are pleased to be an early signatory,” SUNx Malta president Geoffrey Lipman writes in a statement after signing it. “It moves in the right direction, but it has to go further and it has to go faster [including] a DASH-2-Zero.” Full statement.
Are MICE and groups the route back to Laos?
We Are Lao’s John Morris Williams asked Laurent Granier, GM of Laos Mood Travel, for his thoughts on the immediate future of MICE and group tours in Laos, and how hotels and airlines can help.
If so, they need ~90 days’ lead time
MICE and group bookings are being made but then cancelled three months later as COVID-19 issues linger, according to Rob Hanson, GM of Nakarath Travel. The good news is that there is demand. Mr Hanson spoke with We Are Lao’s John Morris Williams.
Elephant welfare emergency continues
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Work for Wild Life and its partners have donated USD 18,000 to the Elephant Conservation Center in Laos. “But the pandemic grinds on and on … and the need for support continues.” Facebook post.
ASSET‑H&C members make anti-SECTT pledges
Five ASSET‑H&C member social enterprises took a pledge on #ProtectingChildrenInTourism after trainers learned from The Code and ECPAT International how to identify and combat the sexual exploitation of children in travel & tourism (SECTT).
Lao Thiao Lao seeks sustainable tourism growth in Vientiane Province
An industry-led team travelled to Vientiane Province in Laos to identify sustainable tourism products, meet with local tourism officials, and consult with tourism developers to ensure sustainable tourism growth.
What’s new at CABI Tourism Cases
The tourism-related case studies published this month by the inter-governmental organisation CABI (subscription required to access):
- Feeding the need for local ingredients (USA)
- Maintaining tourism through a crisis (Singapore)
- Planning on thin ice (the Arctic)
- The weight of a million footsteps (USA)
- Who do we protect: planet or people? (Azores)
- Rethinking rivers (Fiji)
- Share your past to grow your future by 3,000% (Japan)
- Are getaways to indigenous spaces always problematic? (Philippines)
- Tourism as a tool for gender equality (India)
- The year of return (Ghana)
- Creating abundance with boundaries (Brazil)
- Remaining rural: fuelling tourism with food (Spain)
- The cogs in the machine (Slovenia)
- Managing crisis at speed (Asia Pacific)
- Which route is right? (South and Central America)
OSA on FAM in Africa
Catch up with Off Season Adventures on FAM in Africa via their Facebook page, for info like this: Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary protects 32 southern white rhinos. It is the only place in Uganda where you can see them in the wild.
Stay in touch with friends of Laos
Do you love Laos and want to stay in touch with travel & tourism there? ‘Friends of Lao PDR’ is a new Facebook group managed by We Are Lao.
SUNx features two new members
Tomorrow’s Air and Trees4Travel have signed up to the SUNx Program and are the subject of recent interviews (linked). Trees4Travel’s Nico Nicholas previously penned a “GT” Insight: “What do you do when carbon offsetting is off-putting?”
COVID challenges Laos’ coffee culture too
Saffron Coffee in Luang Prabang, a “profit-for-purpose enterprise” supporting more than 485 coffee-growing families in northern Laos, has had to ramp up less profitable exports even as lockdowns hamper the ability to meet growers and inspect crops. WeAreLao’s John Morris Williams interviews Saffron’s Todd Moore.
Human capital: policy, vacancies, education, training
The business case for being good to people
Khiri Travel founder Willem Niemeijer shared his thoughts about human rights in travel & tourism in an online event about supply chain laws. The Roundtable for Human Rights in Tourism symposium took place September 22.
SUNx’ free CFT summer school
SUNx’ Climate Friendly Travel (CFT) Summer School offered a complimentary five-day, 30-hour introduction to CFT that would run Sep 27 to Oct 1. More info.
Room for one more hospitality trainer
ASSET‑H&C member the Hospitality and Catering Training Center in Mae Sot, Thailand, is looking for a hospitality trainer for its room division. LinkedIn post. Meanwhile, learn why Nguyen Van Duc is so proud of being a bakery and pastry trainer at La Boulangerie Française Hué, a member of ASSET‑H&C in Vietnam. Facebook post.
Cambodian students take third place in Accor’s ‘Take Off!’
Students from École d’Hôtellerie et de Tourisme Paul Dubrule, an ASSET‑H&C member in Cambodia, came third in Accor’s ‘Take Off! Challenge 2021’, a global competition. Their project empowers women to turn plastic waste into handmade products.
Student start-ups start to take shape
Thanks to ASSET‑H&C, EHT Paul Dubrule Entrepreneur Challenge finalists had the opportunity to attend “Start Your Business” training led by experts from IECD Vietnam. “The participants found it to be a great source of learning and inspiration.”
Opportunity for a young professional in Paris
Agir Pour le Cambodge, an ASSET‑H&C member, is/was looking for “a motivated young professional (Service Civique)” to support its team in Paris. French language required. Apply here (if you still can).
ASSET‑H&C‑member trainers trained digitally to digitally train
In a course facilitated by Taylor’s University in Malaysia, teachers and trainers from ASSET‑H&C‑member schools are being taught and trained via digital tools on how to use digital tools more effectively to teach and train their students.
Helping others manage, advance, and live happily
Learn why Kritsana Tongmual is so proud of being a life skills trainer and pedagogical manager at ASSET‑H&C member HCTC in Thailand. Facebook post. ASSET‑H&C regularly publishes stakeholder testimonials on its socials.
Back to top of friends’ news ^
The importance of good partnerships
Many commentators would like to see destinations recover from the COVID-19 depression focused on quality rather than quantity. That would be nice, of course, if host communities want that. However, some or many extant tourism stakeholders will likely go out of business. Don’t let one of those be you.
Seek out good partnerships with those who make you their priority.
“GT” is a good partner. Please verify that with a “GT” Partner and then ask about partnership opportunities. There’s a partnership opportunity for everyone — big or small; public or private; commercial or not-for-profit — because travel & tourism is everyone’s business. All “GT” Partners enjoy: a 85 x 85 “Good Partner” button; input into “GT’s” curated list of worthy charitable causes “Friends indeed”; and the outstanding opportunity every week to contribute positive news items to the “GT” newsletter.
‘Spammy content’
On the basis of the September 12 edition of the “GT” e‑newsletter, a tenured academic unsubscribed from the list with the abuse complaint of “spammy content”.
This is at once funny and depressing.
It’s funny because in that very edition I had reaffirmed my personal commitment, as publisher, to fully disclose “GT” Partners’ and sponsors’ content, and to publish sincerely-held views that “GT” Partners (and I) may well disagree with.
I also wrote the following, which I stand by:
“Being on the same platform, having a conversation, or even being friends with someone with whom one disagrees is not the same as endorsing their more controversial views.
“I believe that a tolerance of viewpoint diversity (within reason) is a prerequisite for any serious involvement in international travel & tourism, including an acceptance of the attitudes and practices (again, within reason) of cultures and religions in host communities.
“As corporate media, social media, and big tech divide us according to our politics and many other psychographic and demographic dimensions in order to conquer the advertising industry, “GT” is my humble attempt to keep tourism stakeholders of all stripes listening to each other on important topics.”
The unfair abuse complaint is also depressing because this person very likely influences young minds for a living.
Rather than back down, allow me to double down:
As a humble hack who is without a job-for-life at some elite taxpayer-funded educational institution, and is risking his own time and money to build something unique and (hopefully) worthwhile for our industry, I would ask you, dear reader, to please support the organisations that help make “GT” possible.
And should you ever have a problem with “GT” content, feel free to put your view as a comment on a post. Or contact me directly. Freedom of expression is the whole point of “GT”, not running to the thought police …
Friends indeed
“Friends indeed” are worthy travel & tourism industry fundraisers and charitable causes that are associated with or suggested by “GT” Partners and friends. Please help them if you can. Share the page with your networks. And link to it from your website.
Tourism is everyone’s business. Travel is everyone’s pleasure.
Freedom of movement is a basic human right. And the tourism industry is everyone’s business. “Everyone” includes not only those who earn a living from the travel & tourism industry, but also people who travel, and people who live in places travelled to and through. EVERYONE. Please share “Good news in tourism” and “GT” Travel with your friends and colleagues. And dive deeper into “Good Tourism” Insights for ideas on how to make sustainable tourism and responsible travel better … for you, for your people, and for your place. For they are your people. And it is your place.
Stay healthy, smile, have a good week … And when you travel, remember:
It’s not ‘no’. It’s ‘know’.
Featured image (top of post): Yen ta fo, pink noodle soup, Bangkok. By Streets of Food (CC0) via Unsplash.
Donations, diversity, disclosure
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