For People Who
Care About Places
DSC advocates for protecting the world’s distinctive places through wisely managed tourism and enlightened destination stewardship
Welcome to the Destination Stewardship Center
Extending the work of the former National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations.
We seek to help protect the world’s distinctive places by increasing and spreading information about wisely managed tourism and enlightened destination stewardship.
Our goal: Create a collaborative knowledge center where people can find resources for achieving that mission. We invite your help.
The DSC is all about the intersection between stewardship of places and one of the world’s most impactful industries: tourism. We gather and provide information on the ways tourism can help—or hurt—distinctive destinations around the world. We seek people who want to help build a global community and knowledge network for improving that interaction. We invite destination-stewardship practitioners from all fields of activity, as well as proactive residents and travelers, to join us and get involved in this fascinating, important work.
We stand at the intersection between tourism and care for places.
Our Mission
“Help protect the world’s distinctive places by supporting wisely managed tourism and enlightened destination stewardship.” Join us. Success depends on you, our great volunteers, working to build a powerful knowledge network all about tourism's tricky interaction with places.
Destination Stewardship Resources
If you work in the travel industry, a stewardship organization, government, or academia, if you are a civic leader or a proactive traveler, then this section is for you. Numerous subdirectories address special topics, developed with your help.
Destination Watch
Some destinations are taking good care of themselves, others not so. Still others are in play. So far, this section includes the Destination News Monitor, profiles of exemplary destination stewardship councils, and historic National Geographic “Places Rated” scores.
Destination Stewardship Report
We issue by e-mail the multi-author Destination Stewardship Report periodically in collaboration with our partners. Please contribute! For a less formal venue, add your voice to our collaborative blog.
Services
Here is what the Destination Stewardship Center and our affiliates can do for your destination – including workshops, videos, storytelling training, and consultation on developing your own destination stewardship council.
The Future of Tourism Coalition
The Destination Stewardship Center is one of six co-founders of this global coalition of nonprofit organizations devoted to sustainable tourism and improving destination stewardship.
The work of preserving the important and distinctive aspects of destinations is a critical part of stewardship, and is of utmost concern to many travelers.
What We Do
We use all the communication methods that we can to:
- Highlight the issues. Tourism is changing the world. The Destination Stewardship Report is a free e-mailed periodical with lively articles on all pertinent topics. You can subscribe for free. And contribute content. The Destination Watch section presents stewardship news both good and bad from around the globe. We also offer a blogging platform and index of content.
- Provide Stewardship Resources – directories of information – to help destinations to improve authentic distinctiveness, sustainability, and a responsible tourism practices, including various types of tourism.
- Present a holistic, sustainable approach to tourism, defined via National Geographic as the Geotourism Approach: Tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place—its environment, culture, geology, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents. Mindful, discerning travelers will find access to helpful links under For Travelers.
Please contact us to register on the website and get involved.
Those who change the world are nearly always those who volunteer to do so.
About Us
The nonprofit Destination Stewardship Center is a growing community of people involved in the relationship between tourism and stewardship of places. Our team seeks additional volunteers who love places and who meet our qualifications, including editorial interns, apprentices, retired editors, and sustainable-tourism enthusiasts who aspire to leadership in achieving our mission. No pay for now, but you get full public credit for your work.
We also seek partners, sponsors, and business-development volunteers. Please contact us.