Good news in travel & tourism February-March 2024

This ‘Good news in travel & tour­ism’ wraps up two months of “Good Tour­ism” & “GT” Travel news, insights, and exper­i­ences: Feb­ru­ary and March 2024.

Share ‘Good news’ as you would a pic­nic; as you would a pub­lic space …

It’s “GT”. And go!

(Click/touch an item on the shar­ing menu to go straight to it. And don’t for­get to share.)

“Good Tourism” doesn’t judge. “GT” publishes.

Did you ever want to write a thought­ful piece about the state of the tour­ism industry; how we got here; how we can make it bet­ter (or avoid the worst)?

Has a lack of con­fid­ence in your writ­ing held you back? Well, please don’t let it. Your cor­res­pond­ent is here to help you. 

If you sub­mit a draft that com­plies with the simple “GT” Insight guidelines, I will per­son­ally copy edit your work and ensure that you are happy with it before I click ‘Pub­lish’.

The freedom to share

Just as “Good Tour­ism” nev­er defines ‘good tour­ism’, “GT” will nev­er judge any­one who would, in good faith, share their insights, ideas, expert­ise, exper­i­ence, and wis­dom. It’s part of “GT’s” mis­sion to offer a plat­form for truly diverse per­spect­ives and opinions: 

• From estab­lished lead­ers in aca­demia and industry to young people with the gump­tion to express themselves; 
• From elite glob­al organ­isa­tions to the most mod­est micro busi­nesses (like “GT”);
• From the world’s ‘WEIRD’ (west­ern, edu­cated, indus­tri­al­ised, rich, and demo­crat­ic) places to the ‘LDCs’ (least developed coun­tries) in the ‘Glob­al South’;
• (From those who adore acronyms and cat­egor­ies to those who des­pise them ;-))
• From the centre and from the mar­gins.

No, “GT” doesn’t judge. “GT” publishes.

Join the “GT” net­work. Con­tact “GT” »

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“GT” Insights: Informed perspectives on tourism

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 most recent:

Prolonging anticipatory happiness: How can destinations exceed expectations?

The abil­ity to deliv­er on or exceed expect­a­tions determ­ines wheth­er your des­tin­a­tion will cap­ture a repeat vis­it­or and/or their pos­it­ive word-of-mouth … or a more vir­al neg­at­ive sentiment. 

In his unique and inim­it­able style, K Michael Hay­wood explores the theme and advoc­ates for the twin approach of com­munit­ies-as-des­tin­a­tions and destinations-in-action. 

It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. (You too can write a “GT” Insight.)

“New friends and new places to see […] I’m on my way”

Famil­i­ar refrains sung and spoken by all. 

The joys asso­ci­ated with leav­ing ordin­ary worlds in search of spe­cial worlds. 

The pull of the exot­ic. The push or escape from the mundane toward the magnificent. 

The many new adven­tur­ers, trav­el­lers; are they pur­su­ing or fol­low­ing their bliss?

I won­der. 

• Agon­ies of anticipation
• Mag­ni­fi­cence
• Soul­less saboteurs
• Com­munit­ies-as-des­tin­a­tions exceed expectations …
• As do destinations-in-action
• What do you think? 
• About the author

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Why aren’t Kenya tourism authorities taking a responsible approach to growth?

Doreen Nyam­weya wor­ries about the stra­tegic dir­ec­tion of Kenya tour­ism. Ms Nyam­weya won­ders wheth­er nation­al tour­ism author­it­ies are ‘imprisoned’ by out­dated think­ing, con­fused about Kenya’s pos­i­tion in the world, and dis­con­nec­ted from host communities.

It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. (You too can write a “GT” Insight.)

With Kenya’s tour­ism sec­tor boom­ing again, calls for respons­ible approaches to tour­ism mar­ket­ing and man­age­ment are gain­ing momentum. 

Dif­fer­ent stake­hold­ers in the industry are look­ing at the Kenya Tour­ism Board (KTB) to make the much-needed adjust­ments to integ­rate these approaches in their tour­ism growth and mar­ket­ing strategy.

• Kenya tour­ism is boom­ing again
• Kenya tourism’s focus on num­bers may erode quality
• Kenya tourism’s upmar­ket pos­i­tion­ing may backfire
• Kenya tour­ism developers’ dis­missal of com­munit­ies may cause crisis
• What do you think? 
• About the author

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“GT” Insight Interviews

A “GT” Insight Inter­view is presen­ted in a simple Q&A format, or is a sum­mary of an inter­view whose full tran­script is avail­able. The inter­view­er ensures that the interviewee’s con­sidered answers are faith­fully represented.

Prof Soile Veijola on tourism studies, overtourism, the present, and the future

For all its diverse onto­lo­gies and epi­stem­o­lo­gies, tour­ism aca­demia and research have not influ­enced industry prac­tice as much as it could have, accord­ing to Soile Vei­jola. That puts her hopes of an ‘eth­ic­al turn’ in tour­ism at risk and has her wor­ried about the future.

Pro­fess­or Vei­jola par­ti­cip­ated in a Tourism’s Hori­zon Inter­view. For this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Vil­helmi­ina Vain­ikka sum­mar­ises the high­lights. [The full tran­script is on Substack.]

• Who is Pro­fess­or Soile Veijola?
• Tour­ism stud­ies vs tour­ism realities 
• On diverse and mul­tidiscip­lin­ary approaches to tour­ism studies
• ‘Tour­ism plan­ning has not evolved at all in 40 years’
• ‘Over­tour­ism’ and dream­ing of an ‘eth­ic­al turn’
• Mass tour­ism and con­tem­por­ary culture
• The future of tourism
• What do you think? 
• About the author

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Prof Julio Aramberri on freedom, progress, and academia’s ‘scissors crisis’

Julio Ara­m­berri reck­ons con­tem­por­ary tour­ism aca­demia tends to focus on either “point­less prag­mat­ism” or “shrill reproof”; the excesses of ‘Right’ and ‘Left’.

But ‘pro­gress’ is nuanced and can be poin­ted to in amus­ing ways: 

“Little could Marx ima­gine that the wish­ful ‘work­ers of all lands, unite’ carved in his Highg­ate grave would come true … on the sunny beaches and while wear­ing swimsuits.”

Saverio Ber­to­lu­cci and Peter Smith inter­viewed Prof Ara­m­berri for a Tourism’s Hori­zon Inter­view. For this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, here’s a short reflec­tion by Jim Butcher. [The full tran­script is on Substack.]

• Who is Pro­fess­or Julio Aramberri?
• Free­dom to, free­dom from, free­dom conflated
• Pro­gress = cre­at­ive destruction
• When aca­dem­ic tra­di­tions talk past each other
• What do you think? 
• About the author

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Prof Dimitrios Buhalis on ‘overtourism’ and the ‘democratisation of tourism’

There’s always a ten­sion between rights and respons­ib­il­it­ies; the prom­ise of free­dom for one­self and the poten­tial to infringe upon oth­ers. This is play­ing out in debates about tour­ism, and about what ‘pro­gress’ looks like. 

For Dimitri­os Buhal­is, prag­mat­ic prob­lem-solv­ing is key to achiev­ing win-win out­comes … for the bil­lions who won’t be denied their dreams.

Saverio F Ber­to­lu­cci inter­viewed Prof Buhal­is for a Tourism’s Hori­zon Inter­view. For this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Jim Butcher reflects. [The full tran­script is on Substack.]

• Who is Pro­fess­or Dimitri­os Buhalis?
• The ‘demo­crat­isa­tion of tourism’
• ‘There’s no such thing as overtourism!’
• Win-win for the billions
• A labour of love
• What do you think? 
• About the author

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Emil Kukalj on balanced tourism, overtourism, ideology, pragmatism, possibility

Emil Kukalj reck­ons ideo­logy is only use­ful if it is action­able and leads to net pos­it­ive results.

Saverio F Ber­to­lu­cci inter­viewed Mr Kukalj for a Tourism’s Hori­zon Inter­view. For this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Mr Ber­to­lu­cci reflects. [The full tran­script is on Substack.]

• Who is Emil Kukalj?
• Bal­an­cing income, infra­struc­ture, com­munit­ies, and nature
• Evol­u­tion, over­tour­ism, and adaptability
• Micro prag­mat­ism vs macro ideology
• Be awake to possibility
• What do you think? 
• About the author

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“GT” Insight Bites

A “GT” Insight Bites post is a com­pil­a­tion of short responses to an identic­al set of pro­pos­i­tions and/or ques­tions, and/or a col­lec­tion of short opin­ion pieces that travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers are wel­come to sub­mit at any time. Here are the most recent Bites:

What did tourism learn from the COVID-19 pandemic?

What was the main les­son of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, and has the travel & tour­ism industry learned it?

It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bites question.

Thanks to the 10 respond­ents who shared their thoughts on the ques­tion. Their answers appear in the order received. 

• Chinese trav­el­lers’ ‘fun­da­ment­al les­sons’ from COVID-19
  • Wolfgang Georg Arlt
• Be pre­pared
  • Steve Noakes
• Co-oper­a­tion, pre­pared­ness, adapt­ab­il­ity, diversification
  • Rwaka Mab­rise
• Mod­ern­ity saved us
  • Jim Butcher
• The industry is not ready to learn les­sons, unless …
  • K Michael Haywood
• If and how the industry learned any­thing is ‘far from clear’
  • Ed Jack­iewicz
• Gov­ern­ments care little about small businesses
  • Richard But­ler
• ‘Lay the found­a­tions for sus­tain­ab­il­ity and resilience’
  • S Fate­meh Mosta­favi Shirazi
• Equip tour­ism stu­dents with trans­fer­able skills
  • Sham­iso Nyajeka
• Trav­el­lers became more climate-conscious
  • Herb Hiller
• “GT” Insight BiteX (‘X’ is up to you)
• What do you think? 

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Considering a career in tourism? Important things you should know in 2024

In 2024, what is the most import­ant thing that a young per­son should under­stand before embark­ing upon a career in tourism?

It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bites question.

Thanks to the nine human respond­ents who shared their thoughts on the ques­tion. Their answers appear in the order received. 

Thanks also to Shane Beary for his “GT” Insight Bite_X on how to build a more equit­able tour­ism sup­ply chain.

• Be flex­ible and will­ing to learn
  • Saverio Francesco Bertolucci
• Under­stand fun­da­ment­als and trends
  • Rwaka Mab­rise
• Aca­dem­ic train­ing is not neces­sar­ily good for a career in tourism
  • Richard But­ler
• Listen to your elders
  • Geof­frey Lipman
• Atti­tude
  • Bert van Walbeek
• Under­stand sustainability
  • Pan­nita ‘Mai’ Sripramai
• ‘There’s not a bet­ter career you could choose’
  • Duncan M Simpson
• Equip your­self with sus­tain­ab­il­ity knowledge
  • Samut Bunnag
• ‘Your work counts!’
  • Soile Vei­jola
• Sus­tain­ab­il­ity: ‘Pivotal con­sid­er­a­tion’, ‘para­mount importance’ 
  • AI: Chat­G­PT 3.5
• Adapt­ab­il­ity: ‘Most cru­cial thing’
  • AI: Gem­ini
• ‘Cru­cial considerations’
  • AI: Copi­lot
• “GT” Insight BiteX (‘X’ is up to you)
• BiteX: Cos­met­ic solu­tions won’t build a more equit­able sup­ply chain
  • Shane K Beary
• What do you think? 

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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.

American cultural geographer picks three favourite places to go in Greater Tokyo

Ron Dav­id­son is a cul­tur­al geo­graph­er at Cali­for­nia State Uni­ver­sity, North­ridge, USA. His research focuses on pub­lic space in North Amer­ica and Japan.

Japan fas­cin­ates West­ern­ers with its rich tra­di­tions, hyper­mod­ern city­scapes, exquis­ite cuisine, and glob­al­ised pop culture.

With all of this packed into a mod­er­ately-sized coun­try where people are at once cos­mo­pol­it­an and polite, streets are safe, and train and bus sys­tems form an Eighth-Won­der-of-the-World mod­el of trans­port­a­tion effi­ciency, the siren call to travel to Japan becomes even more powerful.

Tour­ist web­sites list no short­age of “things to see and do” in the coun­try that are no doubt all worth see­ing and doing. But after vis­it­ing Japan — most often Tokyo — annu­ally over the last 20 years, I have made a per­son­al list of recom­mend­a­tions — places to go in Great­er Tokyo — that don’t always appear on these websites. 

In this “GT” Travel Exper­i­ence I will recom­mend three such places: 

1. Min­istry of Defense com­pound, Ichigaya
2. Showa Kin­en Koen (‘Showa Memori­al Park’), Tachikawa
3. ‘The Low City’, Kikuzaka

(And don’t miss my get­ting around tip at the end, which will save you a lot of hassle.)

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Share a “GT” Travel Experience or “GT” Travel Postcard

Are you a ‘tour­ism insider’ keen to share some of the exper­i­ences that got you inter­ested and keep you inter­ested in the travel & tour­ism industry?

Have you ever wanted to write a travel blog about an inspir­ing travel exper­i­ence … and have it published?

You are invited to share your travel pas­sion with dis­cern­ing trav­el­lers, and join a list of oth­er dis­tin­guished “GT” Friends who have done just that.

It could be a “GT” Travel Exper­i­ence (500 – 1,000 words) or a “GT” Travel Post­card (your favour­ite photo from a trip accom­pan­ied by an exten­ded cap­tion of up to 300 words).

It doesn’t mat­ter if you think you can’t write. I will per­son­ally copy-edit your draft and ensure that you are happy with it before I hit the ‘pub­lish’ button.

It’s all part of the “GT” Travel Exper­i­ence.

Join the “GT” net­work. Con­tact “GT” »

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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 recently in the “Good Tour­ism” network:

FINAL CALL for entries: Strong Earth Awards 2024, Advancing the Earth Charter

March 31, 2024 is the dead­line for the Strong Earth Awards 2024. 

Entrants are invited to sub­mit a thought-pro­vok­ing 500-word essay on: 

“Why is the Earth Charter more rel­ev­ant today than when it was intro­duced by Maurice Strong and Mikhail Gorbachev in 2005; espe­cially for tour­ism in Least Devel­op­ing Coun­tries (LDCs) and Small Island Devel­op­ing States (SIDS)?”

SUN^x Malta and Les Roches, togeth­er with The Earth Charter Insti­tute, the China Biod­iversity Con­ser­va­tion and Green Devel­op­ment Found­a­tion (CBCGDF), and the European Centre for Peace and Devel­op­ment (ECPD), are part­ners in the Strong Earth Awards 2024.

• What are the Strong Earth Awards?
• How do I enter the Strong Earth Awards 2024?
• Time is run­ning out
• About SUNx Malta

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For a sustainable Singapore, Green Destinations’ regional lead picks CRTS

Singapore’s private-sec­tor tour­ism stake­hold­ers, from small- and medi­um-sized busi­nesses to glob­al brands, will increas­ingly pur­sue sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fic­a­tion over the com­ing years, accord­ing to Kev­in Phun, founder of the Centre for Respons­ible Tour­ism Singa­pore (CRTS).

Mr Phun is more bullish about the oppor­tun­it­ies for a sus­tain­able Singa­pore since Susan San­tos de Cárde­n­as, Green Des­tin­a­tions’ South­east Asia Part­ner & Rep­res­ent­at­ive, picked CRTS to be the offi­cial coun­try rep­res­ent­at­ive in Singa­pore for their Good Travel Program. 

• Green shoots
• In line with CRTS’ mission 
• Why Green Destinations?
• Col­lab­or­ate with CRTS
• About the Centre for Respons­ible Tour­ism Singapore

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Khiri Reach commits to One Million Trees reforestation project in Cambodia

Khiri Reach, the 16-year old char­it­able arm of Khiri Travel, has joined Wild­life Alliance’s ambi­tious long-term One Mil­lion Trees ini­ti­at­ive to refor­est illeg­ally cleared land in Cambodia’s Car­damom Mountains.

Khiri Reach has donated US$15,000 to the One Mil­lion Trees refor­est­a­tion pro­ject in the Koh Kong and Sihan­ouk­ville provinces of Cam­bod­ia. The char­ity has pledged to sup­port the pro­ject for at least three years.

• What is One Mil­lion Trees?
• 4.2 mil­lion square metres and rising
• Dona­tions from Khiri guests
• Track record over two decades
• About Khiri Reach
• About Khiri Travel 
• Con­tact Khiri Travel

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‘Climate Justice’ in tourism shouldn’t be too hard and it’s the right thing to do

There is increas­ing chat­ter on social media about the need for ‘Cli­mate Justice’.

At its core, Cli­mate Justice is ensur­ing a very strong meas­ure of pro­tec­tion for those who did the least to cre­ate the ‘Code Red Cli­mate Crisis’, and who are likely to be the most to suf­fer from cli­mate change, and who are least able to afford to adapt effectively. 

This means Cli­mate Justice for LDCs (Least Developed States) and SIDS (Small Island Devel­op­ing States). To be fair, justice for the most vul­ner­able has always been a core policy of the envir­on­ment movement.

In 1971, half a cen­tury ago, Maurice Strong flew to India to per­suade Indira Ghandi … con­tin­ue read­ing this “GT” Part­ner mes­sage by Geof­frey Lip­man.

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Cambodian ecolodge commits to conservation and community for the long run

Cambodia’s mul­tiple award-win­ning con­ser­va­tion lodge, Car­damom Ten­ted Camp, has joined The Long Run, an inter­na­tion­al group of nature-based tour­ism busi­nesses that help to pro­tect around 9.3 mil­lion hec­tares (23 mil­lion acres) of biod­i­verse lands on six continents.

• Why join The Long Run?
• Keep the forest standing
• Inten­tions to actions
• Track record
• Meet them at ITB
• About Car­damom Ten­ted Camp
  • Awards and accolades
• About The Long Run
• About YAANA Ventures

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CABI Tourism Cases: Tourism and communities

CABI Tour­ism Cases pub­lishes peer-reviewed case stud­ies on travel & tourism’s inter­ac­tions with the world from just about every angle … includ­ing tour­ism and communities. 

This is the second in a new series of posts in which CABI shares brief sum­mar­ies of its most recent tour­ism-related case stud­ies (and books) along vari­ous themes.

• Recent CABI Tour­ism Cases on tour­ism and communities
  • Respons­ible moun­tain bik­ing in the USA
  • ‘Not All Fun and Games’ in Australia
  • Com­munity entre­pren­eur­ship in Thailand
  • Resi­li­ent rur­al tour­ism in Malaysia
  • Empower­ing Indi­gen­ous com­munit­ies in Mexico
  • Green hik­ing in India
  • Gues­t­house growth in the Maldives
  • What’s in a name in Indonesia?
• Recom­mend CABI Tour­ism Cases to your library
• Recent CABI books about tour­ism and communities
  • Peer-to-peer accom­mod­a­tion in communities
  • Tour­ism in pro­tec­ted area gate­way communities
• CABI book SALE
• About CABI Tour­ism Cases

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Support small islands: Register now for SEYS (Strong Earth Youth Summit)

Young people in tour­ism, and their ment­ors and sup­port­ers, are invited to register for the 2024 edi­tion of the Strong Earth Youth Sum­mit.

Organ­ised by SUN^x Malta (Strong Uni­ver­sal Net­work), the Strong Earth Youth Sum­mit (SEYS) is an annu­al trib­ute to Maurice Strong, cli­mate act­iv­ist for over 50 years and Sec­ret­ary Gen­er­al of the first “Earth Sum­mit” in 1972 and second Earth Sum­mit in 1992. 

The hybrid (in-per­son and online) event, April 29, 2024 from Malta, will high­light the need for a clean and green future for tour­ism, in line with Maurice Strong’s vis­ion; Par­is 1.5; SDG-linked; and Nature Positive. 

• SEYS 2024 Theme
• SEYS 2024 Goals
• SEYS 2024 Agenda
• About SUNx Malta

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Niches: Marketing to micro-communities for sustainable tourism growth

“Instead of reach­ing a mass audi­ence, des­tin­a­tions can be a big fish in a small pond by focus­ing on niche mar­kets, where they can excel and provide the most value to both vis­it­ors and the tour­ism industry.”

So says Jens Thraen­hart, glob­al tour­ism strategist and found­ing part­ner of UNWTO Affil­i­ate Mem­ber Chamele­on Strategies. 

Accord­ing to Dr Thraen­hart, niches can help des­tin­a­tions address spe­cif­ic sus­tain­able tour­ism issues and con­cerns, while ensur­ing mar­ket­ing efforts are highly tar­geted and effective.

• How would he know?
• Micro-com­munit­ies for small places
• Niche mar­ket­ing for bet­ter des­tin­a­tion management
• Pos­it­ive vis­it­or and res­id­ent sentiment
• Bal­anced tour­ism is healthy tourism
• ‘Be Bajan’: ‘Loc­al-hood’ in Barbados
• Stake­hold­er-cent­ric exper­i­ences and storytelling
• Could niches trans­form your destination?

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Supporting ‘Bhutan Believe’: The SUSTOUR Bhutan story so far

Bhutan believes it is (or could be) the world’s green­est and most respons­ible travel des­tin­a­tion. The SUSTOUR Bhutan pro­ject, fun­ded by the European Uni­on under its SWITCH-Asia pro­gramme, is sup­port­ing Bhutan’s effort to real­ise this goal with a focus on sus­tain­able, inclus­ive, and resi­li­ent tour­ism development. 

• Nav­ig­at­ing the COVID lockdown
• ‘A feel­ing of optimism’
• The Trav­elife connection
• Bhutan Green Hotels: A world-first nation­al standard
• ‘Net Zero’ by 2030 …
• … is not that complicated
• Sus­tain­able incent­ives for the future
• Appre­ci­ation
• About SUSTOUR Bhutan

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100+ new carbon-neutral ways to experience Thailand rolled out ITB Berlin 2024

Attendees at ITB Ber­lin 2024 look­ing for fun and inspir­ing new car­bon-neut­ral tours and activ­it­ies in Thai­l­and for their increas­ingly cli­mate-aware cus­tom­ers would have been in luck.

The Thai Eco­tour­ism and Adven­ture Travel Asso­ci­ation, in part­ner­ship with lead­ing Thai research and edu­ca­tion insti­tutes, and with the sup­port of the European Uni­on-fun­ded SWITCH-Asia Pro­gram, rolled out more than 100 new, inspir­ing tours designed to reduce car­bon emis­sions and off­set the rest, in loc­al, Thai projects.

• What are they, and why?
• Examples of Thailand’s new ‘Car­bon Neut­ral Tours’
• How are the tours carbon-neutral?
• What do we mean by ‘Car­bon Neutral’?
• How can TEATA help you offer Car­bon Neut­ral Tours?
• About the EU SWITCH ASIA Thai Tourlink Project

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Lasting Laos: 20 certifiably-sustainable hotels and tour companies at ITB

Travel agents and tour oper­at­ors who atten­ded ITB Ber­lin 2024 to find cer­ti­fi­ably-sus­tain­able ground con­tent in the peace­ful and beau­ti­ful emer­ging des­tin­a­tion of Laos would have found exactly what they were look­ing for thanks to SUSTOUR Laos and the sup­port of the European Uni­on-fun­ded SWITCH-Asia Pro­gram.

Five Lao tour­ism com­pan­ies and 15 hotels show­cased their Trav­elife cer­ti­fic­a­tion, innov­at­ive spir­it, and com­mit­ment to sus­tain­ab­il­ity and sus­tain­able prac­tices at the travel trade event.

• Five exem­plary tour­ism companies 
• 15 cer­ti­fi­ably-sus­tain­able hotels
• About SUSTOUR Laos

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Believe in Bhutan: Sustainable, affordable, life-changing tours launched at ITB

Believe it. 

Bhutan, the land famed for its Gross Nation­al Hap­pi­ness, majest­ic land­scapes, and unique cul­tur­al exper­i­ences, is now more access­ible than ever for travellers. 

This is thanks to sev­er­al key improve­ments in travel pro­ced­ures, includ­ing a sim­pli­fied visa pro­cess, reduced Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment Fee (now US$100 per day), and increased flight options. 

Not only that, at ITB Ber­lin 2024, Bhutan rolled out a new cata­logue of sus­tain­able and low-car­bon tours thanks to the invalu­able assist­ance of the European Uni­on-fun­ded SWITCH-Asia Pro­gram.

• ‘Bhutan Believe’
• An example of Bhutan’s new sus­tain­able tours
• About SUSTOUR Bhutan
• Learn more

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The importance of good partnerships

To help you nav­ig­ate dire straits, take the tem­per­at­ure in an uncer­tain cli­mate, and keep your head when all about you are los­ing theirs, it’s wise to seek out good part­ners.

“GT” is a good part­ner. Veri­fy that with a “GT” Part­ner and then look at part­ner­ship oppor­tun­it­ies. There’s a pack­age for every­one — big or small; pub­lic or private; com­mer­cial or not-for-profit — because travel & tour­ism is everyone’s business. 

All “GT” Part­ners enjoy out­stand­ing value, includ­ing the oppor­tun­ity to con­trib­ute news to the “GT” news­let­ter and to these ‘good news’ wraps of a month or two of “GT” content.

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Your comments

If there are com­ments on any “GT” post, you will find them below the main con­tent of that post. You need to be signed in first. 

The “GT” Blog requires regis­tra­tion and sign in to make com­ment, read com­ments, and reply to com­ments. Why? Because “GT” is a ‘safe space’ for diverse per­spect­ives and respect­ful, friendly debate. 

You will NOT be banned for your off-the-wall opin­ions or your weird sense of humour (with­in reas­on; even if the capri­cious algorithms of our big tech over­lords pun­ish the publisher). 

How­ever, you WILL be banned for enga­ging in argu­mentum ad hom­inem. If you dis­agree with some­thing, always tackle the argu­ment not the indi­vidu­al mak­ing it.

Join the “Good Tour­ism” community 

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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.

Stay healthy, smile, have a good time … And when you travel, remember:

#KnowNotNo … It’s not ‘no’. It’s ‘know’.

Gotta go? Then go!
If you’ve time, go slow
If you don’t, try low
Do what you know is good
And know there is more to know

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Featured image (top of post)

Share ‘Good news in travel & tour­ism Feb­ru­ary-March 2024’ as you would a pic­nic; as you would a pub­lic space … Photo taken at Hud­son River Gre­en­way, New York, NY, USA by Mason Dahl (CC0) via unsplash.

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Donations, diversity, disclosure

To help your cor­res­pond­ent keep his energy-effi­cient lights on, please con­sider a private one-off gift or ongo­ing dona­tion. THANK YOU to those who have! 

You are a tour­ism stake­hold­er — yes, YOU! — so what’s your view? Do you dis­agree with any­thing you have read on “GT”? Join the con­ver­sa­tion. Com­ment below or share your “Good Tour­ism” Insights. Diversity of thought is wel­come on The “Good Tour­ism” Blog. And your ori­gin­al con­tent sup­ports an inde­pend­ent publisher.

Part­ner with “GT”. You know you want to.

Note: It is “GT’s” policy to fully dis­close Part­ner or sponsored con­tent. If an item asso­ci­ated with a “GT” Part­ner is not dis­closed as such, then it either met the “GT” Insight guidelines (includ­ing “avoid sales pitches”) or it was a simple oversight.

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