Collaborative Blog

Category: Managing tourism

To Compete in Tourism, Cooperate

Yes, businesses compete against each other. Yet, cooperating to form a network of exciting businesses creates a tourism draw, and that requires a team effort.

January 22, 2014

Creating Low-Impact Tourism From Scratch

It was an unsettling surprise. Here I was leading a tourism workshop in the Comoro Islands, only to learn that many local stakeholders did not share my enthusiasm for the potential of this small Indian Ocean country west of Madagascar. Some expressed the sentiment that the game was already lost.

December 18, 2013

International Summit on Sustainable Tourism

Canadian Geotourism Region to Host Oct 19 Conference UPDATE: The Summit has taken place successfully, with valuable cross-fertilization between sustainable-tourism experts and representatives of UNESCO-recognized Biosphere Reserves from around the world. Key take-aways from the conference will be posted as soon as possible.—Portal editor The area surrounding the famous Thousand

August 19, 2013

9 Tough Lessons from SE Europe

Managing tourists at popular World Heritage sites has long been a focus for Englebert Ruoss, who formerly headed up the UNESCO office in Venice and has now launched a sustainable-destinations initiative called Global Regions. Its new 164-pp publication is SUSTAINABLE TOURISM AS DRIVING FORCE FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE SITES DEVELOPMENT –

July 3, 2013

Philanthropic Investing

Philanthropic investing: How to have your cake and give some of it away, too—all in the name of geotourism.

April 22, 2013

Study Says Scenic Beauty Pays

Minnesota’s Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway generates $21.6 million for local economy Minnesota research demonstrates the tourism economic value of scenery and scenic routes, says Max Ashburn of Scenic America. For more such studies, go to Scenic America. A recent study by the University of Minnesota Tourism Center found that the

April 3, 2013

U.S. Budget Cuts Are Stunningly Blind

A guide to the sequester for the legitimately baffled. If you thought “sequester,” the American method of government budget-cutting, sounds incredibly stupid, you’re wrong. It’s stupider than that. To achieve the noble goal of reducing federal spending, the sequester that goes into effect at midnight demands blind, across-the-board budget cuts

March 1, 2013

Americans, Get to Know World Heritage

“UNESCO World Heritage site” is one of the best-known labels in the world—a tourist magnet—except in the United States. Many Americans know nothing of the worldwide program they helped found 40 years ago, nor that the U.S. has 21 World Heritage sites itself. (Update: See post on the Dec. 3,

December 12, 2012

Tell Better Tourism Stories

Andy Dumaine says being green is not enough: The sustainable tourism community needs to wake up and smell the fair trade coffee. After two decades of lofty ideals and breathless pronouncements, sustainable tourism remains a long way from achieving critical mass. Although the need for sustainability grows ever more urgent,

November 29, 2012

So How Many Jobs Does Travel Create?

The U.S. Travel Association released on 26 August 2012 some data you can use to make a case for taking better care of special places: the number of jobs generated by travel and tourism. USTA is an advocacy organization, so these numbers may suffer from a promotional puff-factor, but even

September 17, 2012