How should undiscovered coastal destinations handle sustainable tourism? Learn tips from Jonathan Tourtellot’s interview with Urdaibai, a Basque magazine. Continue reading
Advice for a Basque Destination
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What To Do About Overcrowded Destinations
Salli Felton, CEO of The Travel Foundation in the U.K., shows how mass tourism can get out of hand. There’s a solution, she says: Measure success in terms of impacts, not arrivals. The tools for doing so already exist. But does the will to use them? Continue reading
Guyana’s Make or Break Moment for Tourism
A development bank’s well-intentioned report maps out a “critical path” for growing Guyana tourism, but—as is often the case with such plans—fails to lay out the critical stewardship practices needed to protect what tourists would come to experience, as well as a way of life that locals may wish to retain. Continue reading
Keeping a Destination Clean in Style
Dress her in corks and carburetors—Kaikoura, New Zealand has an innovative way to incentivize trash clean-up and recycling: A fashion show featuring the rubbish itself. Continue reading
A First: 440 Destinations Rated by Nat Geo Experts Compiled in One Place
There has been nothing like them, before or since. For seven years, from 2004 to 2010, National Geographic’s landmark Destination Scorecard surveys recorded experts’ opinions on stewardship for hundreds of places around the world. Now, for the first time, the results are amassed here, with easy-to-understand letter grades. Continue reading
Tourism Conflict in the Galápagos
A squabble over gift-shop tourist dollars on Santa Cruz island, Galápagos, is now threatening the renowned, if often troubled, Charles Darwin Research Station and its conservation work. Could better destination stewardship have avoided this? Continue reading
Borrego Springs, CA Establishes Stewardship Council
Geotourism comes to the southern California desert. In collaboration with the surrounding Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the community of Borrego Springs has adopted a mission statement and geotourism charter and established a stewardship council to guide development. Continue reading
Info You Can Use from the Coastal Tourism Symposium
Presenters offered a lot of useful information at the July 2014 CREST (Center for Responsible Travel) symposium in Grenada. Tamara Olton gives a guide to their presentations, with links. Continue reading
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. Continue reading
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. … Continue reading