“Good Tourism” Destinations & Places in Asia

“GT” des­tin­a­tions in Asia, includ­ing the Middle East, their spe­cial places, and the travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers there who are keen to show­case their good, their bet­ter, and their best.

“Good Tourism” Destination Partnership

For “GT” Des­tin­a­tion Part­ner­ship or sponsored con­tent about your spe­cial place, please click here for more inform­a­tion.

Bali is back, and so is the rest of wild Indonesia


Orangutans, Kalimantan, Indonesia

Since the long-awaited — but then very sud­den — eas­ing of travel restric­tions for travel into Indone­sia last March, Bali has seen a very quick return of trav­el­lers.  Along Bali’s south­w­est coast one will once again find the typ­ic­al beach- and Bintang-attrac­ted vis­it­or.  Beach­front hotels and beach clubs are exper­i­en­cing a book­ings rush from both domest­ic and for­eign travellers […]

Read More Bali is back, and so is the rest of wild Indonesia

Unhiding Hirapur: A case study in cultural heritage tourism development

May 17, 2022

Tourism scholars and professionals with the yogini at Hirapur, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

How does an insti­tu­tion of the Min­istry of Tour­ism, Gov­ern­ment of India trans­form under­ap­pre­ci­ated cul­tur­al her­it­age into a tour­ism attrac­tion? Ady­asha Das offers this “Good Tour­ism” Insight.  [Thanks to “GT” Part­ner the World Tour­ism Asso­ci­ation for Cul­ture and Her­it­age (WTACH) for invit­ing Dr Das to write this “GT” Insight. You too can write a “GT” Insight.] Through my research, […]

Read More Unhiding Hirapur: A case study in cultural heritage tourism development

Balancing tourism development with care for cultural heritage in Ras Al Khaimah

April 12, 2022

Ras Al Khaimah arab guide with camel. Source: Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority.

What are tour­ism offi­cials in the United Arab Emir­ates’ north­ern-most mem­ber doing to lever­age and pro­tect the cul­tur­al her­it­age of 7,000 years of his­tory?  Raki Phil­lips, CEO of Ras Al Khaimah Tour­ism Devel­op­ment Author­ity, lets us know. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [Thanks to “GT” Insight Part­ner the World Tour­ism Asso­ci­ation for Cul­ture and Her­it­age (WTACH) for invit­ing Raki […]

Read More Balancing tourism development with care for cultural heritage in Ras Al Khaimah

You can’t furlough an elephant: How Laos’ ECC is surviving the COVID crisis

February 8, 2022

One can't simply furlough a bull elephant and his mahout. Image supplied by the Elephant Conservation Center in Sayaboury, Laos.

What would you do if rev­en­ues dried up but you had dozens of ele­phants to look after? The Ele­phant Con­ser­va­tion Cen­ter (ECC) in Say­a­boury, Laos faced this situ­ation as COVID-19 lock­downs and travel bans bit in March 2020. ECC found­ing part­ner Sébas­tien Duffil­lot shares what they did. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [Thanks to “GT” Destination […]

Read More You can’t furlough an elephant: How Laos’ ECC is surviving the COVID crisis

Elephants, otters return to Cardamom Tented Camp’s conservation area in Cambodia


Cardamom Tented Camp ecolodge in Cambodia reports success in nature conservation with otters and elephants coming back to its conservation area.

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp in Cam­bod­ia has wit­nessed the return of a small herd of ele­phants to its con­ser­va­tion area, after an absence of five years. A large group of smooth-coated otters are back too. Forest rangers dis­covered and pho­to­graphed ele­phant foot­prints and drop­pings inside the 18,000-hectare forest con­ces­sion, which the camp pro­tects, with help from Wildlife […]

Read More Elephants, otters return to Cardamom Tented Camp’s conservation area in Cambodia

Science, mahout traditions may help save Asian elephants from extinction in Laos


Elephant family crossing a river. Captive breeding technology and mahout knowledge may help save Asian elephants in Laos. Image supplied by Anabel Lopez Perez.

Asi­an ele­phants are at risk of extinc­tion in the wild and in cap­tiv­ity. That they are not repla­cing their num­bers in cap­tiv­ity may come as a sur­prise to many. This is why con­­ser­­va­­tion-ori­en­ted cap­tive breed­ing pro­grams are import­ant to the spe­cies. Wild­life bio­lo­gist Ana­bel Lopez Perez of Laos’ Ele­phant Con­ser­va­tion Cen­ter and Hol­lis Bur­b­ank-Ham­­marlund of […]

Read More Science, mahout traditions may help save Asian elephants from extinction in Laos