“Good Tour­ism” in the United Kingdom
“Good Tour­ism” des­tin­a­tions and places in the United King­dom, and the travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers there who are keen to show­case their good, their bet­ter, and their best.

The human touch: Why Scotland should keep its visitor information centres open

October 16, 2024

VisitScotland's plan to close its visitor information centres (‘iCentres’) is a catastrophic move, according to Alastair Naughton who pens his fourth “Good Tourism” Insight. Mysterious stone circles by pexels (CC0) via Pixabay. Flag of Scotland by jorono (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/stone-circles-mystery-cult-1853340/ https://pixabay.com/illustrations/international-banner-flag-scotland-2423877/

Vis­itScot­land’s plan to close its vis­it­or inform­a­tion centres (‘iCentres’) misses the mark, accord­ing to Alastair Naughton who pens his fourth “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.] Vis­itScot­land’s pro­pos­al to close all its iCentres by 2026 is a mis­guided strategy that fails to recog­nise the diverse needs of tour­ists.  While it is true […]

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Posted in "GT" Destinations & Places, "Good Tourism" in Europe, "Good Tourism" in Scotland, "Good Tourism" in the United Kingdom, Insights & Best Practices
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The happiness factor: Social tourism is sustainable tourism

August 6, 2024

Social tourism, social good? Image by Guille Pozzi (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/silhouette-photo-of-woman-and-girl-on-shoreline-y1wVavuxZtE

Can ‘social tour­ism’ — char­ity- and/or tax­pay­er-sup­­por­ted hol­i­days — help alle­vi­ate stress in soci­ety and turn the travel & tour­ism industry’s off-sea­son frowns upside down?  Scott McCabe thinks so.  Pro­fess­or McCabe penned this “Good Tour­ism” Insight at the invit­a­tion of Tourism’s Hori­zon: Travel for the Mil­lions, a “GT” Insight Part­ner. Fam­ily hol­i­days: A fine time … Term-time hol­i­day fines were back in […]

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Posted in Insights & Best Practices, "Good Tourism" in Europe, "Good Tourism" in the United Kingdom, "GT" Destinations & Places
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Cash, time, or freedom: Travel & tourism is expensive

November 28, 2023

Then as now, tourism is expensive. Photo Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.

If one can put romantic notions of ‘the good old days’ aside, then one must acknow­ledge that travel was then, and is now, an elit­ist pur­suit for those with the lux­ur­ies of cash, time, and/or free­dom. Tour­ism is expens­ive. Our industry has to change, accord­ing to Duncan M Simpson. But how?

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Posted in Insights & Best Practices, "Good Tourism" in England, "Good Tourism" in Europe, "Good Tourism" in the United Kingdom, "GT" Destinations & Places
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Mountain biking in Scotland? Not if you’re dependent on public transport

July 11, 2023
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Mountain biking in Scotland? Not if you’re dependent on public transport ... Linn Of Dee waterfall image supplied by Alastair Naughton

Scot­land’s tour­ism author­it­ies have been keep­ing glob­al stake­hold­ers happy by declar­ing ‘cli­mate emer­gency’ and plan­ning ‘trans­form­a­tion­al tour­ism’, but have they lost touch with Scots? In his first “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Alastair Naughton ques­tioned the poor access­ib­il­ity of Scot­tish ski resorts. In this “GT” Insight he won­ders why pub­lic trans­port is mak­ing it more dif­fi­cult to go […]

Read More Mountain biking in Scotland? Not if you’re dependent on public transport
Posted in Insights & Best Practices, "Good Tourism" in Europe, "Good Tourism" in Scotland, "Good Tourism" in the United Kingdom, "GT" Destinations & Places
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Off-piste: Lack of public access to Scottish ski resorts reinforces divides

May 9, 2023
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Cannae go 'off-piste' to a Scottish ski resort

Scot­land’s ski resorts offer breath­tak­ing scenery and exhil­ar­at­ing out­door exper­i­ences. How­ever, they are dif­fi­cult to access for many Scots. Alastair Naughton, a con­cerned cit­izen and avid ski­er, believes that Vis­itScot­land should advoc­ate for invest­ment in access­ible, afford­able, and low-emis­­sion pub­lic trans­port infra­struc­ture.  I love ski­ing, although I have not been able to get up to […]

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Posted in "GT" Destinations & Places, "Good Tourism" in Europe, "Good Tourism" in Scotland, "Good Tourism" in the United Kingdom, Insights & Best Practices
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Language skills in tourism: Why the Anglosphere needs to appreciate them

and April 5, 2023

Language skills in tourism Why the Anglosphere needs to value them higher Image by Towfiqu barbhuiya (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/@towfiqu999999

The import­ance of lan­guages is uni­ver­sal.  How­ever, in nat­ive Eng­l­ish-speak­­ing coun­tries such as the United King­dom, lan­guage edu­ca­tion has been neg­lected.  This has implic­a­tions for the inbound travel, tour­ism, and hos­pit­al­ity indus­tries and their work­ers, accord­ing to Kar­en Thomas and Jim Butcher. Dr Thomas was the lead research­er for a study on the top­ic. Drs Thomas […]

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Posted in "GT" Destinations & Places, "Good Tourism" in Europe, "Good Tourism" in the United Kingdom, Insights & Best Practices
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