“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.

‘Where responsibility meets opportunity’ is where tourism faces its threats

October 4, 2023

‘Where responsibility meets opportunity’ is where tourism faces its threats ... keynote by PATA Chair Peter Semone

Pacific Asia Travel Asso­ci­ation (PATA) Chair Peter Semone delivered an impas­sioned key­note address, Octo­ber 4, on the eve of PATA Travel Mart 2023 in New Del­hi, India. This “Good Tour­ism” Insight ver­sion was pub­lished with Mr Semone’s bless­ing. “GT” is attend­ing PATA Travel Mart at the kind invit­a­tion of PATA and thanks to the gen­er­os­ity of […]

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From creative child to professional artist: How travel & tourism changed my life

September 28, 2023
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From creative child to professional artist: How travel & tourism changed my life. Credo Boris Harera pic by David Gillbanks

Travel in his nat­ive Rwanda is a source of artist­ic inspir­a­tion. Encoun­ters with tour­ists, and teach­ing chil­dren, is fuel for motiv­a­tion. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight by pas­sion­ate paint­er Credo Bor­is Harera who says: “Tour­ism changed my life.”

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Was this the European summer of terrible tourists? Give us a break, media!

September 26, 2023
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Was this the European summer of terrible tourists? Give us a break! Surrealist representation of a terrible tourist by DALL-E.

“Hordes” and “swarms” of tour­ists “forced through a well-oiled fun­nel” to “crawl” through our cher­ished spaces, releg­at­ing them to “back­drops” for selfies. Per­haps we should tell them to “go home” and “stay away” from our “per­fect places”. Is this the scape­goat­ing pro­pa­ganda of a para­noid author­it­ari­an state? No, it’s just media por­tray­als of ter­rible tourists. […]

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Is gorilla-friendly conservation compatible with local communities and tourism?

September 21, 2023

Gorilla-friendly policy and practice played a part in the arrival of 'Jijuka' ('enlightenment'), who was named during Rwanda's 19th Kwita Izina in 2023 by Sol Campbell.

It can be dif­fi­cult to find a bal­ance between spe­cies con­ser­va­tion and the needs and aspir­a­tions of our own spe­cies.  In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Sheil­lah Mun­sabe of the Wild­life Friendly Enter­prise Net­work describes a gor­illa-friendly mod­el for con­ser­va­tion, respons­ible tour­ism, and improved com­munity live­li­hoods. As we become more glob­al­ised, the respons­ib­il­ity for pro­tect­ing Earth’s […]

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Can tackling tourism income leakage unlock a more sustainable future for tourism?

September 19, 2023

Can tackling tourism income leakage unlock a more sustainable future for tourism? Image by Steve Buissinne (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/plumbing-pipe-wrenches-plumber-840835/

‘Profit’, the much-maligned ‘P’ of sus­tain­ab­il­ity, is a strong incent­ive for people to save and invest for the future; seek out and con­serve what is of value; and rein­vest. Hoteli­er and entre­pren­eur Thomas Müller argues that tak­ing a close look at tour­ism income leak­age may prove … well, prof­it­able … wherever our industry is most problematic. 

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Heart, energy, force for good: Tourism and sustainable development in Rwanda

September 13, 2023

Heart, energy, force for good: Tourism and sustainable development in Rwanda. Pic by David Gillbanks

Emma Raissa Isheja is not only pas­sion­ate about her Nyak­i­n­ama vil­lage com­munity but is also keen to har­ness the heart and energy of its women and young people to advance sus­tain­able devel­op­ment in Rwanda. The volun­teer, tour guide, and elec­tric­al engin­eer­ing gradu­ate is a believ­er in tour­is­m’s poten­tial to be a force for good. In the […]

Read More Heart, energy, force for good: Tourism and sustainable development in Rwanda