What is good tourism? “Good Tourism” wrap January-February 2025

Wel­come to the Janu­ary-Feb­ru­ary 2025 wrap of “Good Tour­ism” & “GT” Travel news, insights, and exper­i­ences shared by friends and Part­ners of The “Good Tour­ism” Blog. [You too can share.]

“Good Tour­ism” nev­er defines ‘good tour­ism’. Your cor­res­pond­ent would nev­er be so bold. The fact is that what’s good for one stake­hold­er may not be good for another. 

Travel & tour­ism is a com­plex industry, so it is a good idea to open one’s mind to per­spect­ives that one may nev­er oth­er­wise encounter. 

This is the “Good Tour­ism” mis­sion. It’s “GT”. And go!

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

What does good tourism mean to you?

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” »

Back to menu ^

“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:

Nostalgia

‘Nos­tal­gia. It ain’t what it used to be!’ 

Our travel tastes are often shaped by the memor­ies of child­hood hol­i­day exper­i­ences, or of stor­ies passed down through the gen­er­a­tions. Mar­keters often play to this. What is the role of nos­tal­gia in hol­i­day­mak­ing, from an indi­vidu­al or com­mer­cial perspective?

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

• ‘Some things were bet­ter in the past’
  • Jim Butcher, Read­er, Can­ter­bury Christ Church Uni­ver­sity, UK
• ‘Postal­gia’ and the power of presence
  • K Michael Hay­wood, pub­lish­er, ‘Des­tin­a­tions-in-Action’, Canada
• ‘A power­ful driv­ing force’
  • Richard But­ler, Emer­it­us Pro­fess­or of Tour­ism, Uni­ver­sity of Strath­clyde, Scotland
• What do you think? 

Back to menu ^

What is tourism’s biggest opportunity and/or threat where you are in 2025?

What is tourism’s biggest oppor­tun­ity and/or threat where you are in 2025?

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

• Europe: ‘Get ser­i­ous about air transportation’
  • Robin Boustead, founder, Nepal
• South­east Asia: Oppor­tun­it­ies for sus­tain­able, regen­er­at­ive tourism
  • Kev­in Phun, founder & dir­ect­or, Singapore
• ‘Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee’
  • K Michael Hay­wood, writer & pub­lish­er, emer­it­us pro­fess­or, Canada
• Asia’s ‘per­sist­ent threat’ and ‘immense promise’
  • Willem Niemeijer, founder & CEO, Thailand
• Trump and cli­mate change
  • Richard But­ler, emer­it­us pro­fess­or, Scotland
• Des­tin­a­tions must pri­or­it­ise the needs of com­munit­ies, environment
  • Edwin Magio, doc­tor­al research stu­dent, UK
• Cli­mate change will push many ‘over the cliff’
  • Wolfgang Georg Arlt, CEO & dir­ect­or, Nepal
• Threat and oppor­tun­ity in Barcelona
  • Saverio Francesco Ber­to­lu­cci, busi­ness devel­op­ment, Spain
• Eco­tour­ism and the threat of over­tour­ism in south­ern Thailand
  • Chris Kit­tish­in­nak­uppe, mar­ket­ing & sales, Thailand
• Respons­ible travel trends and the threat of over­tour­ism in Cambodia
  • Chris Kit­tish­in­nak­uppe, mar­ket­ing & sales, Thailand
• Oppor­tun­ity and threat in the Golden Triangle
  • Chris Kit­tish­in­nak­uppe, mar­ket­ing & sales, Thailand
• What do you think? 

Back to menu ^

Butler asks: How do we solve one of the great conundrums of ‘sustainable’ tourism?

“Inter­est­ing range of views”, Richard But­ler (of Tour­ism Area Life Cycle mod­el fame) writes in the com­ments of “GT” Insight Bites on oppor­tun­it­ies and threats to tour­ism in 2025. 

“How do we square the first response re air travel and the second and fourth pos­it­ive responses about tour­ism in [South­east] Asia where many of the vis­it­ors rely on air trans­port to get there from their origins?

“If any­one can resolve the con­tra­dic­tions, they will solve one of the great conun­drums of sup­posed ‘sus­tain­able’ tour­ism; travel to most self-styled sus­tain­able des­tin­a­tions is almost always mostly by air.”

And so your cor­res­pond­ent put the chal­lenge to “GT’s” net­work and received three inter­est­ing responses: from C Michael Hall, Geof­frey Lip­man, and Jona­thon Day, in that order.

Thanks also to K Michael Hay­wood who was the only respond­ent to a ques­tion about mer­ito­cracy in tour­ism media; a top­ic close to your correspondent’s heart giv­en this plat­form and its mis­sion to advance view­point diversity. Prof Haywood’s thought­ful response is hon­oured here as a “GT” Insight BiteX.

• Less long-haul, more ‘pol­luter pays’
  • C Michael Hall, Pro­fess­or, Uni­ver­sity of Can­ter­bury, New Zealand
• ‘Guar­an­teed routes’ to needy places
  • Geof­frey Lip­man, Pres­id­ent & co-founder, SUNx Malta 
• Extern­al­it­ies: ‘… so the entire glob­al avi­ation fleet must be replaced’
  • Jona­thon Day, Asso­ci­ate Pro­fess­or at Purdue Uni­ver­sity, Indi­ana, USA
• “GT” Insight BiteX (‘X’ is up to you)
• BiteX: ‘Mediacracy’ in tourism
  • K Michael Hay­wood, pub­lish­er, ‘Des­tin­a­tions-in-Action’, Canada
• What do you think? 

Back to menu ^

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” »

Back to menu ^

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:

Khiri Travel joins The Long Run

Khiri Travel has joined The Long Run, a glob­al com­munity of pur­pose-driv­en tour­ism busi­nesses which aims to imple­ment pos­it­ive change around the world.

Khiri Travel has built an inter­na­tion­al repu­ta­tion based on innov­a­tion and sus­tain­able tour­ism dis­cov­er­ies. It has 17 offices in eight coun­tries in South­east Asia.

• Fast-grow­ing glob­al network
• Pro­tect­ing biod­i­verse landscapes
• Regen­er­at­ive travel
• About Khiri Travel
• About The Long Run

Back to menu ^

2025 ‘critical’ for tourism climate action: SUNx unveils ‘Baku Declaration’ action plan

2025 is a crit­ic­al year for cli­mate action, and SUN^x Malta is intensi­fy­ing efforts to build a stronger, more resi­li­ent glob­al net­work for Cli­mate Friendly Travel (CFT).

With the Baku Declar­a­tion call­ing for accel­er­ated trans­form­a­tion in the tour­ism sec­tor, we are scal­ing up our impact:

• Sup­port­ing our CFT Registry, CFT Dip­loma, and CFT Chapters to increase their effect­ive­ness and expand their reach with­in and across devel­op­ing and island states;
• Expand­ing “Dodo 4 Kids”, bring­ing cli­mate edu­ca­tion to young travellers;
• Part­ner­ing with Mur­mur­a­tion for AI-driv­en Cli­mate Action Plans and risk assessments;
• Sup­port­ing CFT busi­nesses and des­tin­a­tions with spe­cial­ised CFT Services;
• Enga­ging trav­el­lers and tour­ists through the Cli­mate Friendly Travel Club, offer­ing dis­counts and immers­ive exper­i­ences at CFT busi­nesses and destinations.

… and pub­lish­ing our new-look eXist news­let­ter. Here is a page from the 30th edi­tion.

Back to menu ^

Heartfelt thanks to Amazing Thailand, TAT, and guests, from the Anurak Lodge family

As repor­ted here, Anurak Com­munity Lodge in south­ern Thai­l­and won the Tour­ism Author­ity of Thai­l­and 2024 Respons­ible Tour­ism Award in the “Respons­ible Tour­ism Accom­mod­a­tion” cat­egory. We are at once proud and humbled.

The entire Anurak Lodge fam­ily extend our deep­est grat­it­ude to the Tour­ism Author­ity of Thai­l­and (TAT) for the esteemed “Best Respons­ible Accom­mod­a­tion in 2024” award. 

This recog­ni­tion is not merely an accol­ade; it is a test­a­ment to our entire team’s unwaver­ing ded­ic­a­tion and pas­sion, from the warm smiles of our recep­tion­ists to the metic­u­lous care of our house­keep­ing staff.

• Deep­est gratitude
• About Anurak Com­munity Lodge
• About YAANA Ventures

Back to menu ^

Villagers, tour operators collaborate on new community-based Soum-son Trail in Laos

The organ­isers of a new com­munity-based trekking route in remote north­ern Laos believe that the inclu­sion and train­ing of vil­la­gers in three moun­tain ham­lets is a pos­it­ive example of respons­ible travel. Their hope is that the com­munity-based tour­ism activ­ity will enhance the qual­ity of life for the villagers.

• Women pion­eers
• Two-way learn­ing
• Pos­it­ive partnership
• Close co-oper­a­tion
• About Khiri Travel
• About Cam­ino Women

Back to menu ^

Reclaim the riverside! EXO winner creates family-friendly green spaces in Hanoi

Think Play­grounds (TPG) is pro­tect­ing the unique biod­iversity of the Red River through the cre­ation of inclus­ive meet­ing places on the edge of deprived neigh­bour­hoods in Hanoi, Viet­nam. TPG is an EXO Found­a­tion Sus­tain­ab­il­ity Award winner. 

• A grow­ing need for green spaces in Hanoi
• Think Play­grounds’ vision
  • Phuc Tan Park and Chuong Duong Park: Green oases on the banks of the Red River
  • Sus­tain­ab­il­ity through com­mit­ment: Many hands main­tain green meet­ing spaces!
  • Grow­ing sup­port for sus­tained success
• About Think Playgrounds
  • Join the Movement
• About the author

Back to menu ^

Khiri Travel unveils new sensory and colonial heritage tours in Southeast Asia

Khiri Travel has launched two major series of tour products ahead of ITB Berlin.

The first is Asi­an city day tours that indulge all five senses. The second is a series of multi-day travel exper­i­ences where guests vis­it or stay in charm­ing colo­ni­al man­sions and hotels from the era of 19th cen­tury European explorers in Asia.

• Five senses, five countries
• Colo­ni­al his­tory and heritage
• Enhanced Agent Hub
• Meet Khiri Travel at ITB
• About Khiri Travel

Back to menu ^

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 ‘What is good tour­ism?’ wraps of a month or two of “GT” content.

Back to menu ^

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

Back to menu ^

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

Back to menu ^

Featured image (top of post)

Share the “Good Tour­ism” wrap Janu­ary-Feb­ru­ary 2025 as you would a har­vest of straw­ber­ries. Straw­ber­ries by Arturro (CC0) via Unsplash.

Back to menu ^

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”.

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.

Top ^