Good news in travel & tourism April-June 2024

This ‘Good news in travel & tour­ism’ wraps up three months of “Good Tour­ism” & “GT” Travel news, insights, and exper­i­ences: April, May, and June 2024.

Share ‘Good news’ as you would a meal in Seoul, South Korea …

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:

Venice ‘bookable’: Italians lose freedom of movement

Are Venice’s new day-trip­per rules hav­ing the desired effect? Or are they unreas­on­ably restrict­ing Itali­ans’ free­dom of movement?

This is Domin­ic Standish’s second “Good Tour­ism” Insight at the invit­a­tion of Tourism’s Hori­zon, a “GT” Insight Partner.

[You too can write a “GT” Insight. Your organ­isa­tion can also become a “GT” Part­ner.]

• Book­ings and fees
• An unpre­ced­en­ted response to ‘over­tour­ism’
• ‘No to tick­et for Vene-Land’
• Venice has set a dan­ger­ous precedent
• What do you think? 
• About the author

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Totally awesome: Destinations’ urgent need to rediscover the ‘totality of 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 a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.]

• Total eclipse
• Awe: Awful or awesome?
• From mar­ket­ing remarkab­il­ity to expos­ing awe
• Adren­aline 
• Action
• What do you think? 
• About the author

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Regenerative tourism’s myths and realities

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. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.]

‘Regen­er­at­ive’ is the latest eth­ic­al pre­fix to accom­pany ‘tour­ism’, fol­low­ing a well-worn path from ‘eco’, ‘sus­tain­able’, ‘green’, ‘com­munity’, ‘respons­ible’ et cetera. 

‘Regen­er­at­ive tour­ism’ devel­ops with­in envir­on­ment­al lim­its, and plays a role not only in con­serving, but also in improv­ing, or regen­er­at­ing, the environment. 

• From regen­er­at­ive agri­cul­ture to regen­er­at­ive tourism
• Regen­er­at­ive policy
• Regen­er­at­ive philosophy
• Rad­ic­al luxury?
• Regen­er­at­ive hype
• For more …
• What do you think? 
• About the author

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Conservation, climate, culture challenge food tourism in Botswana

Delly Cha­ti­bura sees a huge oppor­tun­ity for Bot­swana to lever­age its nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al resources for food secur­ity and good food tour­ism. But it is not without its challenges.

[Thanks to Jim Butcher for invit­ing Dr Cha­ti­bura to write a “GT” Insight.]

• Food tour­ism in Bot­swana. Why not?
• Mopane worms under threat
• Beef under pressure
• Game meat undermanaged
• Fish under­ap­pre­ci­ated
• Food tour­ism in Bot­swana challenged
• 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 Valeria Minghetti on peer review, overtourism, regenerative tourism, success

“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 for a Tourism’s Hori­zon Inter­view. For this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Mr Ber­to­lu­cci iden­ti­fies his high­lights. [The full tran­script is on Substack.]

• Who is Pro­fess­or Valer­ia Minghetti?
• It’s time to review the peer-review process
• Over­tour­ism: A func­tion of space and time
• The prom­ise of regen­er­at­ive tourism
• Intu­ition, curi­os­ity, sci­ence, and belief
• 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 (BiteX). Here are the most recent Bites:

What constitutes ‘progress’ for travel & tourism in 2024?

In 2024, what con­sti­tutes ‘pro­gress’ for the travel & tour­ism industry where you work, or that you have iden­ti­fied through your obser­va­tions, study, or research?

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

Your cor­res­pond­ent put the ques­tion to the travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers in the “GT” net­work, invit­ing responses of no more than 300 words. 

Thanks to the 18 respond­ents — pro­fess­ors, pro­fes­sion­als, prac­ti­tion­ers — who took the time to share their thoughts on the ques­tion. Their answers appear in the order received. 

Thanks also to Ronda J Green for her Bite_X about Aus­tralia and Indone­sia cel­eb­rat­ing geo­tour­ism and Herb Hiller for his Bite_X about sav­ing the Oke­fen­o­kee Swamp in the USA.

• ‘Deep pro­gress’
  • K Michael Haywood
• Ed’s note: A change to the question
• The found­a­tion of pro­gress is free­dom of speech
  • Dav­id Gillbanks
• Dis­cus­sions, not slam­ming doors
  • Frédéric Dimanche
• ‘Mem­or­able, safe, and sus­tain­able experiences’
  • Aini Wikamto
• Don’t take pro­gress for granted
  • Steve Noakes
• ‘Pro­gress for one may well be a draw­back for another’
  • Robin Boustead
• ‘The world needs strong mind­sets now more than ever’
  • Saverio F Bertolucci
• More sus­tain­able approaches
  • Richard A Shepard
• Con­sensus on what’s pro­gress is ‘becom­ing harder than ever’
  • C Michael Hall
• I am, you are, we are ‘the masses’
  • Vil­helmi­ina Vainikka
• A more sus­tain­able Singapore
  • Kev­in Phun
• More people trav­el­ling closer to home
  • Duncan M Simpson
• ‘Change course NOW’
  • Geof­frey Lipman 
• ‘Redu­cing our impact on our nat­ur­al resources’ 
  • Allan Michaud
• Sin­cere, col­lab­or­at­ive sustainability
  • Rob Pearce
• Pro­gress on sev­er­al fronts in Rwanda
  • Rwaka Mab­rise
• Decency, dig­nity, value, compassion
  • Cath­er­ine Germier-Hamel
• Bal­an­cing sus­tain­ab­il­ity, com­munity, and cul­ture in Musan­ze, Rwanda
  • Greg Bak­un­zi
• Pro­gress for tour­ism and the envir­on­ment in West­ern Australia
  • Erika Jac­ob­son
• “GT” Insight BiteX (‘X’ is up to you)
• BiteX: Aus­tralia, Indone­sia cel­eb­rate geotourism
  • Ronda J Green
• BiteX: Sav­ing Okefenokee
  • Herb Hiller
• What do you think? 

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What does it mean to be critical of tourism?

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” net­work, invit­ing responses of no more than 300 words. (You too can join the “GT” net­work. Register.)

Thanks to the 18 respond­ents — pro­fess­ors, pro­fes­sion­als, prac­ti­tion­ers — who took the time to share their thoughts on the ques­tion. Their answers appear in the order received.

• The ‘geo­graphy of hope’
  • C Michael Hall
• The ‘respons­ib­il­ity mindset’
  • Robin Boustead
• ‘Tour­ism aca­dem­ics are tour­ists too’
  • Melanie Smith
• To be crit­ic­al of tour­ism is to be ‘farsighted and visionary’
  • Dorji Dhradhul
• ‘We should all be crit­ic­al’ … includ­ing of the critics
  • Jim Butcher
• Offer sus­tain­able, respons­ible, enjoy­able alternatives
  • Melissa Tilling
• ‘Stay alert, flex­ible, and … critical’
  • Wolfgang Georg Arlt
• ‘Tour­ism done well is a force for good’
  • Willem Niemeijer
• ‘Towards a more equit­able and inclus­ive mod­el of tourism’
  • Yesaya San­dang
• Counter the back­lash with ‘high-yield tourism’
  • Jens Thraen­hart
• The debate must be ‘robust’
  • Peter Semone
• Oth­ers’ opin­ions ‘often viewed as exist­en­tial threats’
  • K Michael Haywood
• Dis­tin­guish between ‘crit­ic­al sup­ply’ and ‘crit­ic­al demand’
  • Valer­ia Minghetti
• ‘Hedon­ism is no match for hurricanes’
  • Herb Hiller
• ‘A more col­lab­or­at­ive dia­logue’ needed
  • John Black
• ‘We can be con­struct­ive in our criticism’
  • Edwin Magio
• Being a tour­ist is ‘fraught with contradictions’
  • Ed Jack­iewicz
• ‘Schol­ars, we should dir­ect our crit­ic­al gaze to our own actions’
  • Vil­helmi­ina Vainikka
• “GT” Insight BiteX (‘X’ is up to you)
• What do you think? 

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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:

Tourism climate action now for small island developing states: SUNx Malta

The cli­mate crisis is most chal­len­ging and imme­di­ate for small island devel­op­ing states, which have con­trib­uted the least to the prob­lem but are the most exposed to its consequences. 

This is accord­ing to Geof­frey Lip­man, Pres­id­ent of SUN^x Malta, who key­noted a ses­sion on cli­mate change and tour­ism at the United Nations’ Small Island Devel­op­ing States (SIDS4) 2024 Sum­mit in Anti­gua and Barbuda. 

Pro­fess­or Lip­man called for the tour­ism industry to take imme­di­ate action, quot­ing the Inter­gov­ern­ment­al Pan­el on Cli­mate Change (IPCC)‘s recom­mend­a­tion to peak green­house gas emis­sions by 2025 to have any chance of lim­it­ing glob­al warm­ing to 1.5°C by 2050.

• Col­lab­or­a­tions for cli­mate-friendly travel
• Clear and present danger
• About SUNx Malta

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Community-based tourism for urban & rural development in sub-Saharan Africa

CABI Tour­ism Cases presents suc­cesses, poten­tials, and chal­lenges of com­munity-based tour­ism and hos­pit­al­ity for urb­an and rur­al devel­op­ment in sub-Saha­ran Africa. The six case stud­ies are free to access until July 31, 2024. 

• Tour­ism and devel­op­ment in sub-Saha­ran Africa: The context
• The cases
  • Geo­tour­ism in the Kalahari
  • Com­munity-based eco-cul­tur­al tour­ism in Malawi
  • Botswana’s new tour­ism policy and mantras
  • Bene­fit shar­ing from Maa­sai Man­yatta visits
  • Land-use con­flicts in Tanzania
  • The Gambia’s Ninki Nanka Trail
• Write for CABI Tour­ism Cases
• About CABI Tour­ism Cases
• Recom­mend CABI Tour­ism Cases to your library

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Inclusions: How a little place near Angkor became one of the world’s best hotels

There’s a lot of good going on behind the leafy green exter­i­or of one of the world’s best hotels. And much of it is “rather easy”.

Talk is cheap.

Chris­ti­an de Boer is tired of the hypo­crisy that runs rampant in the travel & tour­ism industry, such as “the B Corps that can’t wait to give you a plastic water bottle”.

Cer­ti­fic­a­tion sys­tems, which should rig­or­ously uphold cer­tain stand­ards and make decision mak­ing sim­pler for pro­spect­ive cus­tom­ers and sup­ply chain part­ners, rather serve to dis­ap­point and deceive.

Industry asso­ci­ation and trade media awards reward the paid-up mem­bers, pat­rons, and spon­sors of the organisers.

There will of course be cred­ible excep­tions; cer­ti­fic­ates and awards that mean some­thing; that rep­res­ent effect­ive action. 

How­ever, in an atmo­sphere of declin­ing trust in insti­tu­tions at all levels, includ­ing, or per­haps espe­cially, glob­al, it’s tough to sort the real from the ‘feel’. 

Loc­al actions speak louder than ‘like’-able words. 

And genu­ine smiles on the ground tell a story.

• Smiles tell a story
• ‘Trees for life’
• ‘Refill Not Landfill’
• Mul­ti­fa­ceted
• No pres­sure
• About Jaya House River Park

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SUNx, CFT Uganda Chapter urge tourism climate action and adaptation in Kampala

SUN^x Malta and its Uganda Chapter high­lighted the imper­at­ive for cli­mate action in tour­ism, par­tic­u­larly the need to adapt to intensi­fy­ing weath­er extremes, at the Pearl of Africa Tour­ism Expo (POATE) 2024. 

• 100 cli­mate-friendly Ugandan tour­ism stakeholders
• 100 Cli­mate Friendly Travel Chapters coordin­ated from Africa
• Build­ing a glob­al Cli­mate Friendly Travel network
• Next steps in Africa
• About SUNx Malta

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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 April-June 2024’ as you would share a meal in Seoul, South Korea. Image by Markus Wink­ler (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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