“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.

Prof Greg Richards on academic silos, localism, overtourism, and modernity

November 13, 2023

Prof Greg Richards took part in the Tourism's Horizon Interviews and spoke about academic silos, localism, overtourism, and modernity

Greg Richards thinks more of us should lift our gaze from our nar­row aca­dem­ic, busi­ness, and loc­al con­cerns. We should scan the hori­zons of what we (think we) know, and try harder to under­stand the prim­or­di­al instinct we have to travel and the human incent­ives that drive the tour­ism industry.  Pro­fess­or Richards is the subject […]

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Posted in Insights & Best Practices, Insight Interviews
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Souvenirs: Our sensorial selves, memories of the future

November 2, 2023

Souvenirs from Portugal base image by Sunguk Kim (CC0) via Unsplash. "GT" added the words "Memories in future tense". https://unsplash.com/photos/assorted-color-toy-lot-WksmEy5wV1s

What do souven­irs mean to you?  What do they say about the people who col­lect them and the places souven­irs pur­port to rep­res­ent; then, now, and in the future?  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight by K Michael Hay­wood. (You too can write a “GT” Insight.) Souven­irs Hav­ing returned from a month in Por­tugal my head, while […]

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“GT” Insight Bites: On empowerment, promotion, and the power of expression

October 26, 2023

Nyungura ‘Leonard’ Bapfakwita expresses himself in real time at the 2023 Red Rocks Cultural Festival in Rwanda. Picture by David Gillbanks.

Thanks to these two Rwandan tal­ents for con­trib­ut­ing to this instal­ment of “GT” Insight Bites: Leonard, who demon­strated his art in real time at the Red Rocks Cul­tur­al Fest­iv­al; Roger, who shared with me his love of birds as we walked through his beau­ti­ful vil­lage. You too can contribute.

Read More “GT” Insight Bites: On empowerment, promotion, and the power of expression
Posted in Insights & Best Practices, "Good Tourism" in Africa, "GT" Destinations & Places, “Good Tourism” in Rwanda, Insight Bites
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On ‘permanent vacation’: Why digital nomads feel at ‘home’ in Bend, Oregon

and October 24, 2023

On ‘permanent vacation’ Why digital nomads feel at ‘home’ in Bend, Oregon pic by Ed Jackiewicz

For some, excess­ive work-related travel dis­rupts lives at home. For digit­al nomads, work makes itin­er­ant life­styles pos­sible. Digit­al nomads may be an attract­ive long-stay vis­it­or seg­ment for some des­tin­a­tions to tar­get. But they won’t stay very long if they don’t like the place. What makes des­tin­a­tions attract­ive to digit­al nomads? Ron Dav­id­son and Ed Jackiewicz […]

Read More On ‘permanent vacation’: Why digital nomads feel at ‘home’ in Bend, Oregon
Posted in Insights & Best Practices, "Good Tourism" in the Americas, "GT" Destinations & Places, “Good Tourism” in the United States of America
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What is ‘mass tourism’? And what’s the problem?

October 17, 2023

What is 'mass tourism'? Is it "human pollution" as this graffiti asserts? Image by Mark de Jong (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/FZ8ZEeL0l8g

What is ‘mass tour­ism’? How do we think about it and talk about it? Do we con­sider all of its con­texts, costs, and bene­fits? Does mass tour­ism con­trib­ute to good lives? Or do ‘the masses’ only rep­res­ent threat? Does leis­ure travel for the many have its place in a ‘green’ future for us all? Or […]

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“GT” Insight Bites: On enrichment, repatriation, the double-edged blade, and war

October 11, 2023

"Thanks to tourism and the money I am able to save and send back to Congo DRC, I have started a nursery school on Idjwi Island in Lake Kivu." _ Rick Masumbuko

Write no more than 300 words on a travel & tour­ism top­ic that is import­ant to you. This is an open invit­a­tion to travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers to con­trib­ute a “GT” Insight Bite. Simply con­tact “GT”. Unlike oth­er “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bites that have dead­lines and are based on spe­cif­ic ques­tions or hypo­thet­ic­als, this invit­a­tion is ongo­ing and […]

Read More “GT” Insight Bites: On enrichment, repatriation, the double-edged blade, and war
Posted in Insights & Best Practices, Insight Bites