SUNx Malta launches 50 Climate Friendly Travel Chapters in world’s LDCs


SUNx Malta launches 50 Climate Friendly Travel Chapters in world’s LDCs

Malta’s Min­is­ter for Tour­ism Hon. Clayton Bar­to­lo MP (pic­tured above), Malta Tour­ism Author­ity (MTA) CEO Carlo Mic­allef, and Malta Tour­ism Obser­vat­ory MD Leslie Vella have launched 50 SUNx Chapters in the world’s least developed coun­tries (LDCs). Today’s launch event at MTA, as well as Malta’s broad­er sup­port of SUNx, is a key com­pon­ent of the […]

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Emotions, storytelling, AI, & tech dominate culture & heritage tourism summit


Culture and heritage tourism discussed at WTACH Global Leaders Summit in Valencia, Spain

Emo­tion­al con­nec­tion, empathy, and nar­rat­ive storytelling in an AI age of declin­ing atten­tion spans dom­in­ated debate at the inaug­ur­al Glob­al Lead­ers Sum­mit of the World Tour­ism Asso­ci­ation for Cul­ture and Her­it­age (WTACH). Her­it­age tour­ism experts grappled with com­plex issues of present­ing cul­ture and her­it­age to tour­ists at an inter­na­tion­al gath­er­ing of cul­ture tour­ism experts Septem­ber 24 – 25 […]

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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 […]

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