Good news in travel & tourism February 2022
Share it as you would a spicy somtam bpu.
It’s “GT”. And go! (Click/touch a menu item to go straight to it.)
- “Good Tourism” Insights
- “GT” Travel Experiences
- Good news from friends
- *Shock!* A civilised climate debate
- A staggering accusation
- Friends indeed
“GT” Insights: Informed perspectives on the industry
The “Good Tourism” Blog publishes informed opinions on the issues facing the travel & tourism industry, everyone’s business. “GT” Insights are diverse perspectives written by, for, and about our sector. Here are the latest from the month that was:
Tourism’s common challenge: How do we create ‘community shared value’?
Are there needs, wants, and desires common to all (or most) individuals within your community? How might travel & tourism serve them? K Michael Haywood explores the challenge all destinations face if they wish to create ‘community shared value’ in “Tourism’s common challenge: How do we create ‘community shared value’?”
You can’t furlough an elephant: How Laos’ ECC is surviving the COVID crisis
What would you do if revenues dried up but you had dozens of elephants to look after? The Elephant Conservation Center (ECC) faced this situation as COVID-19 lockdowns and travel bans bit in March 2020. ECC’s Sébastien Duffillot shares what they did in “You can’t furlough an elephant: How Laos’ ECC is surviving the COVID crisis”.
Lessons in resilience: Binna Burra’s rise from the ashes
Despite a devastating wildfire in September 2019 and the global pandemic that followed, Australia’s Binna Burra Lodge is open for business. Drawing from that recovery story, Jonathon Day shares five lessons in resilience that any tourism business can apply in “Lessons in resilience: Binna Burra’s rise from the ashes”.
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“GT” Travel Experiences: Informed inspiration for travellers
The “Good Tourism” Blog’s young sibling The “GT” Travel Blog publishes informed inspiration and top tips for travellers from tourism insiders. Here is the latest:
Memories of Jordan (and celebrating the ‘bucket list’)
“[W]hile the economics of tourism is often viewed as a dull, or even uncompassionate consideration, it is arguably the most fundamental for many local residents. For this reason, I am celebrating my return to ticking experiences off my ‘bucket list’.” _ Melanie Kay Smith in “Memories of Jordan (and celebrating the ‘bucket list’)”.
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:
Laos reopening to foreign tourists off to a slow start … But it’s a start!
WeAreLao’s Bernie Rosenbloom has questioned Lao TAs and DMCs about the reopening process that commenced on January 1. The eight respondents cite “confusion and bureaucracy for stalling a smoother, more robust rollout” but they also offer constructive suggestions for improvement.
Vietnam set to reopen on March 15
“Vietnam is reopening on March 15, 2022,” Khiri Travel reports in a tweet. “We eagerly await more details on the inbound protocols.” Khiri Vietnam.
WTACH observes US Black History Month
The World Tourism Association for Culture & Heritage (WTACH) will run a series of five Five in Five interviews next week, February 21 – 25, in conjunction with the (US) National Blacks in Travel & Tourism Collaborative. (Five-in-Five refers to five questions in five minutes.)
Sophie Hartman leaves ASSET‑H&C
Not good news, as such, for ASSET‑H&C; Sophie Hartman has left the IECD project to take a well-deserved break and spend time with her family in Belgium.
Your correspondent found Sophie to be an engaged, engaging, and highly conscientious counterpart in a very fruitful “GT” Partnership to date. I would highly recommend her to any prospective employer. (If you would like an introduction, ask me.)
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*Shock!* A civilised climate change debate
The climate change debate that started in January continued this month.
Alastair Naughton agrees with much of what Ken Scott had to say in his “GT” Insight, “Why travel & tourism is wrong to embrace net zero as its climate change response”.
Alastair wrote in his comment: “It applies equally to the oil and gas sector in the North Sea, where oil workers are being laid off before the transition to renewable energy has been properly introduced.”
However, the nuclear energy option is an “ABSOLUTE NO-NO” he reckons.
Mr Scott rebutted Alastair Naughton’s worries about nuclear with the question: “What is the greater existential threat: nuclear waste storage leakage or global warming from man-made CO2 emissions?”
Ken thinks breakthroughs in nuclear fusion could be “transformative” in the longer term while gas and modern nuclear fission provide cheap and reliable baseload power in the meantime.
Jim Butcher also weighed in, pointing to nuclear’s small carbon and land use footprints and leading safety record; reasons why it should remain part of the energy-generating mix.
Dr Butcher described Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear energy as “one of the worst strategic decisions in history from an environmental perspective”. It is now more dependent on fossil fuels.
Jim thinks that activist demands for “net zero now”, if acceded to, will set back a clean energy transition and risk swelling the ranks of the poor as electricity becomes more expensive.
And higher energy bills will have the knock-on effect of dampening tourism demand.
What do you think? Read Ken Scott’s “GT” Insight and all the comments in full and in context. And then leave your own thoughts, whatever they are.
Meanwhile, Geoffrey Lipman of “GT” Partner SUNx Malta has proposed a couple more steps to add to Francecsa Gallone’s “Three steps travel companies can take to contend with climate change”:
When a company or destination makes the Glasgow Declaration, they can then sign up “FREE” on SUNx’ Climate Friendly Travel Registry. This in turn affords the registree a range of complimentary benefits.
Prof Lipman also weighed in on Ken Scott’s “GT” Insight, insisting that the establishment’s net zero targets don’t go far enough.
Everyone’s relevant opinion is welcome.
Tourism is everyone’s business. Travel is everyone’s pleasure.
Per Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, freedom of movement is a basic human right.
And, per “GT”, the travel & 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.
A staggering accusation
This rant by yours truly appeared in the February 6 edition of the “GT” newsletter. (It’s important to read to the very end of my rant for the (hopefully) reasonable pay-off):
I’m still recovering from a staggering accusation levelled at me four days ago, by a respected elder of our industry, that The “Good Tourism” Blog “does not stand for anything that is appealing”.
As if sustainable tourism, responsible travel, and an openness to diverse perspectives associated with such notions is unappealing …
“GT’s” mission should certainly appeal to this particular individual, given their position of leadership in the industry, and the stated aims of their organisation.
But no, “and be done with it”, they wrote, brooking no further discussion on the matter.
My invitation, which I had extended in good faith via a mutual friend, remains open … as does my heart.
But herein lies the challenge faced by impartial media outlets like “GT”: A prospective audience member will see an item with which they disagree, reach for their broad brush, and slather tar all over the publication and/or its publisher. (This is what I suspect happened in this case.)
This is why (in the ‘liberal’ West) there is increasing polarisation in our media landscape and political discourse: It is much easier to pander to a specific psychographic tribe than it is to explore different ideas.
(In going off-scripture, one risks angering the most prejudiced and intolerant in one’s flock … and then being described in those very same terms!)
This dilemma ties in nicely with the challenge K Michael Haywood poses in his “GT” Insight this week: “Tourism’s common challenge: How do we create ‘community shared value’?”
It’s a challenge worth taking on, I believe, particularly in destinations where social alienation and/or political ideology is replacing a sense of community, purpose, and place;
Where cultural institutions that once offered some locus of community cohesion are deemed problematic by those with trendy critical lenses perched at the ends of their turned up noses;
Where supposed ‘progressives’ scramble to censor, aka “deplatform”, views with which they disagree, or find uncomfortable (not the same thing), rather than engage in respectful debate;
Where the moderate majority fear to speak up against the endless grievances of spoiled adult children, and the illiberal safetyism of their helicopter parents in power;
And where an equal and opposite ugly backlash is increasingly likely as numbers swell of those who are damned by the original sin of immutable characteristics, as intersectionality encircles and constricts …
And *breathe* …
^^ Hyperbole ^^ (a feature of my rant above) is fun … But let’s not be swayed by it.
«»«» Nuance »«»« (what “GT” celebrates) is cool … What’s not to like??
Friends indeed
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Stay healthy, smile, have a good week … And when you travel, remember:
It’s not ‘no’. It’s ‘know’.
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