“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.

Changing places: Responsibility, nostalgia, and the right to complain | BiteX: War

March 23, 2026

Changing places: Nostalgia, responsibility, and the right to complain. A Gemini-generated image for a "Good Tourism" Bites compilation. "GT" added the word "bites".

Who has the ‘social licence’ to claim a place has changed for the worse? Does it mat­ter if that change is driv­en by tour­ist visas, employ­ment visas, or migration? 

Is ‘nos­tal­gia’ a val­id stake­hold­er in a destination’s future? And does travel & tour­ism have a respons­ib­il­ity to val­id­ate these feel­ings, or is change the price of ‘pro­gress’?

Thanks to the six respond­ents for their con­sidered thoughts. Their responses are lis­ted in the order I received them. For BiteX: war. 

Read More Changing places: Responsibility, nostalgia, and the right to complain | BiteX: War
Posted in Insight Bites, Insights & Best Practices
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“GT” Insight Bites: Is a tourism career a ticket or a trap?

February 23, 2026
2 Comments

Travel & tourism career: Ticket or trap? A Gemini-generated image.

Is a career in travel & tour­ism a tick­et to the world or a trap? What is your hon­est advice to a young per­son enter­ing the industry?

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

Thanks to the four respond­ents writ­ing in from Canada and South­east Asia for their con­sidered thoughts. And thanks to Dav­id Beir­man from Aus­tralia for his “GT” Insight BiteX on academia’s rela­tion­ship with sustainability.

Read More “GT” Insight Bites: Is a tourism career a ticket or a trap?
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“GT” Insight Bites: What’s AI doing for you?

February 9, 2026

In what way is artificial intelligence (AI) changing the way you work, hire, learn, or teach? A Gemini-generated image

In what way is arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI) chan­ging the way you work, hire, learn, or teach?

With per­spect­ives from seni­or people in travel & tourism’s busi­ness, aca­dem­ic, act­iv­ist, air­line, and NGO worlds — and even from Iran — there is more depth in this com­pil­a­tion of “GT” Insight Bites than you might ini­tially pre­sume; des­pite AI being “the hot­test (and maybe the most bor­ing) sub­ject of the moment”, as one respond­ent described it.

Read More “GT” Insight Bites: What’s AI doing for you?
Posted in Insights & Best Practices, Insight Bites
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The flaw in sustainability: Why responsible tourism avoids hard questions

February 8, 2026

The flaw in sustainability and why responsible tourism avoids the hard questions. A Gemini-generated image.

Ewan Cluck­ie argues that travel & tourism’s sus­tain­ab­il­ity claims have cre­ated a cred­ib­il­ity crisis, and that it is time to ask hard ques­tions about own­er­ship, gov­ernance, and incentives.

“The travel industry talks a lot about sus­tain­ab­il­ity […] Yet trust in sus­tain­ab­il­ity claims is declin­ing, and scru­tiny from reg­u­lat­ors, con­sumers, and part­ners is increasing.”

Read More The flaw in sustainability: Why responsible tourism avoids hard questions
Posted in Insights & Best Practices, "Good Tourism" in Asia, "GT" Destinations & Places
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What’s the point of UN Tourism?

January 20, 2026

What's the point of UN Tourism?

What’s the point of UN Tourism?

Thanks to the four good people who respon­ded to this “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bites question.

* Geof­frey Lip­man, Cre­at­ive Dis­rup­tion Archi­tect, Malta
* Dav­id Beir­man, Adjunct Fel­low, Australia
* Richard Shep­ard, Trustee/CEO, England
* Richard But­ler, Emer­it­us Pro­fess­or, Scotland

Read More What’s the point of UN Tourism?
Posted in Insights & Best Practices, Insight Bites
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Imagining peace: How travel writing bridges divides between Israel and the UAE

and January 10, 2026

Imagining peace: How travel writing bridges divides between Israel and the UAE.

Fol­low­ing the 2020 Abra­ham Accords, the United Arab Emir­ates (UAE) trans­formed from a dis­tant adversary to a pop­u­lar hol­i­day des­tin­a­tion for Israelis. 

Dr Irit Shmuel and Prof Paolo Mura ana­lyse how travel nar­rat­ives are help­ing to bridge the cul­tur­al divide between the two places.

It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight.

Read More Imagining peace: How travel writing bridges divides between Israel and the UAE
Posted in Insights & Best Practices, "Good Tourism" in Asia, "Good Tourism" in the United Arab Emirates, "GT" Destinations & Places, “Good Tourism” in Israel
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