“Good Tourism” Insights

Dancers, singers, and drummers from a local women’s cooperative welcome visitors to the Red Rocks Cultural Center in Nyakinama village, Rwanda. Pic by David Gillbanks.

Dan­cers, sing­ers, and drum­mers from a loc­al women’s cooper­at­ive wel­come vis­it­ors to the Red Rocks Cul­tur­al Cen­ter in Nyak­i­n­ama vil­lage, Rwanda. Pic by Dav­id Gillbanks.

“Good Tour­ism” Insights are ori­gin­al posts by aca­dem­ics, experts, and prac­ti­tion­ers who are keen to share their sus­tain­able tour­ism and respons­ible tour­ism insights, expert­ise, and exper­i­ences, in plain Eng­lish, for the bene­fit of all travel & tour­ism stakeholders.

Each “GT” Insight rep­res­ents the opin­ion of its author, NOT neces­sar­ily the opin­ion of The “Good Tour­ism” Blog, its Part­ners, or its pub­lish­er. The “Good Tour­ism” Blog neither pays nor is paid for any “GT” Insight. 

Any­one with an informed and sin­cerely-held opin­ion about travel & tour­ism is wel­come to sub­mit a “GT” Insight for pub­lic­a­tion. The “GT” Insight guidelines are very simple.

AI and authenticity in tourism, hospitality: Why human stories still matter

April 1, 2025

AI and authenticity in tourism, travel, hospitality: Why human stories still matter. A Gemini-generated image.

With arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI) and auto­ma­tion on the rise across many sec­tors of the glob­al eco­nomy, how can travel, tour­ism, and hos­pit­al­ity brands bene­fit while stay­ing true to them­selves and the exper­i­ences they offer?  It’s Anishka Narula-Nielsen’s second “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can share.] Dawn of the AI age Like it or not, we’re liv­ing at […]

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A force for good: What can global travel & tourism learn from social enterprises?

March 26, 2025
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A force for good: What can global travel & tourism learn from social enterprises? A Gemini-generated image.

Can the loc­al com­munity-based busi­ness mod­els of tour­ism social enter­prises be rep­lic­ated at glob­al scale? Anishka Narula-Nielsen thinks so. It’s her first “Good Tour­ism” Insight. (You too can write a “GT” Insight.) The search for ‘good tour­ism’ Tour­ism is one of the most power­ful forces in the world. It drives eco­nom­ies, cre­ates jobs, and intro­duces us to […]

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The problem with critical tourism studies

March 25, 2025

The problem with critical tourism studies (CTS). Is CTS losing its edge? Starfish image by Dulcey Lima (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/a-starfish-on-a-sandy-beach-next-to-a-shell-q05M_2xqZUI

Is crit­ic­al tour­ism stud­ies los­ing its edge? Are CTS schol­ars shy­ing away from the polit­ics that are at the heart of crit­ic­al the­ory? Prof Mary Mosta­fanezhad writes this “Good Tour­ism” Insight about crit­ic­al tour­ism stud­ies at the invit­a­tion of Tour­is­m’s Hori­zon: Travel for the Mil­lions, a “GT” Insight Part­ner. Not what you expect Crit­ic­al tour­ism studies […]

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Tourism and solidarity with Ghana & the developing world: Can they go hand in hand?

March 18, 2025

Whose future is it anyway? Tourism and solidarity with Ghana & the developing world: Can they go hand in hand? Photo by Ransford Quaye (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/woman-in-black-tank-top-and-blue-and-white-floral-skirt-standing-on-beach-during-daytime-b6KGlgCxH4o

Is tour­ism from the developed world com­pat­ible with the devel­op­ing world? Ceri Dingle believes so, and argues that if people could vis­it devel­op­ing places without pater­nal­ist­ic pity and pre­ju­dice they would help sup­port the sort of devel­op­ment and pro­gress loc­als want. Ms Dingle writes this “Good Tour­ism” Insight about her edu­ca­tion char­ity WORLD­write and its experiences […]

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Wishwashing tourism

March 3, 2025
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'Wishwashing' tourism. Image by Michaela, at home in Germany • Thank you very much for a like (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/dandelion-heart-wish-wishes-blow-4163657/

With ‘gre­en­wash­ing’ and oth­er forms of empty rhet­or­ic and inef­fect­ive poli­cy­mak­ing allegedly rampant, is the travel & tour­ism industry, its stu­dents and con­sult­ants, engaged in ‘wish­wash­ing’: hop­ing motiv­a­tions and incent­ive struc­tures are bet­ter aligned to our wishes than what they are in the real world? Yes? No? Some­times? Maybe? Offer examples. And that is your “GT” […]

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

February 24, 2025

Richard Butler asks: How do we solve one of the great conundrums of ‘sustainable’ tourism? Pic by Michael Schwarzenberger (CC0) via Pixabay https://pixabay.com/photos/turbine-aircraft-motor-rotor-590354/

“Inter­est­ing range of views”, Richard But­ler (of Tour­ism Area Life Cycle mod­el fame) writes in the com­ments sec­tion of the “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 […]

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