“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.

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 […]

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

Can we manage mass tourism for sustainable, equitable, and progressive outcomes?

July 30, 2024
2 Comments

Can we manage mass tourism for sustainable, equitable, progressive outcomes? Image generated by Copilot.

If one assumes that mass tour­ism is unavoid­able without an author­it­ari­an crack­down on mobil­ity, what should be done about it? Kev­in Phun sug­gests that in every chal­lenge lies an oppor­tun­ity, and pro­poses how we might man­age mass tour­ism for sus­tain­able, equit­able, and pro­gress­ive out­comes. In less than two hours’ time (as I write this), I will […]

Read More Can we manage mass tourism for sustainable, equitable, and progressive outcomes?
Posted in Insights & Best Practices
Tags: , , ,

Domestic disasters & destination ‘dupes’: Climate change impels travel closer to home

July 2, 2024
One Comment

Domestic disasters & destination ‘dupes’: Climate change impels travel closer to home. Worried about climate change and associated risks to property, American vacationers are growing reluctant to travel far from home. Image by WikiImages (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/hurricane-devastation-charley-63005/ "GT" added the text.

Wor­ried about cli­mate change and asso­ci­ated risks to prop­erty, Amer­ic­an vaca­tion­ers are grow­ing reluct­ant to travel far from home. It’s the third “GT” Insight by Herb Hiller. [You too can write a “Good Tour­ism” Insight.] Cli­mate change at home and away In this epoch of cli­mate change, a fam­ily on Grand Bahama depos­its a Nor­we­gi­an Cruise Line […]

Read More Domestic disasters & destination ‘dupes’: Climate change impels travel closer to home
Posted in Insights & Best Practices, "Good Tourism" in the Americas, "GT" Destinations & Places, “Good Tourism” in the United States of America
Tags:

Conservation, climate, culture challenge food tourism in Botswana

June 25, 2024

Botswana's Okavango Delta is important to the country's food security as well as its food tourism potential. Aerial shot of the Okavango River, Shakawe, Botswana by Wynand Uys (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/aerial-photography-of-body-of-water-4ZCA3xukIso

Delly Cha­ti­bura sees a huge oppor­tun­ity for Bot­swana to lever­age its nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al resources for food secur­ity and good food tour­ism. But con­ser­va­tion, cli­mate, and cul­tur­al chal­lenges impede food tour­ism in Bot­swana. Food cul­tures are often integ­ral to tour­ism, with Bangkok’s street food, New York’s diners, tea in China, and French baguettes being four arbit­rary examples. But how many of the world’s tour­ists are famil­i­ar with Botswana’s rich food cul­ture, and the issues attend­ing it? 

Read More Conservation, climate, culture challenge food tourism in Botswana
Posted in "GT" Destinations & Places, "Good Tourism" in Africa, "Good Tourism" in Botswana, Insights & Best Practices
Tags: ,

Regenerative tourism’s myths and realities

June 11, 2024
4 Comments

Regenerative tourism: Myth and reality. 'Regenerative Reliquary' stem cell image by Monika Robak (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/regenerative-reliquary-amy-karle-2744729/

Regen­er­at­ive tour­ism is great for des­tin­a­tions that choose to focus on it, and for the few who can afford it. But what about the rest of us? It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight by Jim Butcher. ‘Regen­er­at­ive’ is the latest eth­ic­al pre­fix to accom­pany ‘tour­ism’, fol­low­ing a well-worn path from ‘eco’, ‘sus­tain­able’, ‘green’, ‘com­munity’, ‘respons­ible’ et cetera. […]

Read More Regenerative tourism’s myths and realities
Posted in Insights & Best Practices
Tags: ,

What does it mean to be critical of tourism?

June 4, 2024

What does it mean to be critical of tourism? Airport image by Jan Vašek (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/airport-woman-flight-boarding-2373727/ Pointing fingers by Gordon Johnson (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/vectors/pointing-fingers-arms-frame-border-6028818/

Some “GT” read­ers are crit­ic­al of tour­ism, par­tic­u­larly ‘mass tour­ism’. Some in the uni­ver­sit­ies see them­selves as part of a ‘Crit­ic­al Tour­ism Stud­ies’ move­ment. But what does it mean to be ‘crit­ic­al’ in rela­tion to mod­ern tour­ism?  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bites ques­tion. Your cor­res­pond­ent put the ques­tion to the travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers in the “GT” […]

Read More What does it mean to be critical of tourism?
Posted in Insights & Best Practices, Insight Bites